"Beasts" director, Ramblers songwriter to appear at Tulane Oct. 7

Benh Zeitlin , the Oscar-nominated director of Beasts of the Southern Wild and Louis Michot, the Grammy-nominated songwriter and fiddler with the Lost Bayou Ramblers, will discuss how artists make sense of environmental change Oct. 7 at 5:30 p.m. at Tulane University.

The program, which is free and open to the public, is part of the School of Liberal Art"s “The Katrina Disaster Now” series. It will take place in the Stone Auditorium at Woldenberg Art Center on the Tulane uptown campus.

The discussion will be moderated by Nick Spitzer, a professor of anthropology at Tulane and host and producer of the public radio program “American Routes.” It is being sponsored by the Environmental Studies Program.

Tulane history professor Andy Horowitz, who is a teaching a special class that accompanies “The Katrina Disaster Now” series this semester, said the opportunity to have Zeitlin, Michot and Spitzer on stage together is “simply amazing.”

“Benh Zeitlin and Louis Michot are extraordinary artists who use Louisiana as a prism for understanding the human experience,” Horowitz said. “And Nick Spitzer is one of the great advocates and interpreters of Louisiana"s culture.”

Zeitlin"s Beasts of the Southern Wild is among the most celebrated films of the past decade, having been nominated for four Oscars. Told through the eyes of a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy, it takes place in a coastal Louisiana town that is able to celebrate itself even in the face of impending doom.

Michot, whose Lost Bayou Ramblers contributed to the film"s soundtrack, writes and performs traditional Cajun music that also draws on such genres as Western swing, rockabilly and punk rock.

The Tulane event will be followed Oct. 10 with a screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild at the Saenger Theatre, featuring a live performance of the score by the Wordless Music Orchestra and music by the Lost Bayou Ramblers.