On the weekend of May 29–31, the 2026 Emerging Voices Directors Lab (EV Lab) fellows came together for a first in the program’s history: a four-day overnight retreat, held at the beautiful Docville Farm in Violet, Louisiana.
New Orleans Film Society is deeply grateful to Docville Farm and the Meraux Foundation for so generously opening their space and hosting our fellows throughout the weekend. Docville has long been a home for the Southern Producers Lab retreat, and we were thrilled to bring this tradition to the EV Lab for the first time this year.
The retreat marked the kick-off of the 6 month program and over four days, the fellows dove into workshops and panels, took a site visit to Ranch Studios, and shared meals and stories. Leading the retreat was EV Lab alum and accomplished filmmaker Zandashé Brown, a writer/director born and raised in southern Louisiana, who graduated from the EV Lab in 2015.
When asked why investing in Louisiana-based filmmakers of color matters, the 2026 cohort answered, in one voice: the American South holds a culture so rich and nuanced that only those who’ve lived it can tell it fully.
To support these storytellers is to deepen not just cinema, but our understanding of one another.
And this is only the beginning. Filmmakers accepted into the EV Lab also receive:
- A $2,000 unrestricted grant to support their project
- Regular meetings to share updates on their films’ progress
- An All Access Pass to the 2026 New Orleans Film Festival
- Access to a vibrant, thriving alumni network of filmmakers — many of whom still live and work right here in Louisiana
See photos from the weekend’s final event, the Alumni Brunch, where alumni from the program gathered for food and to hear from Oscar-nominated producer and EV Lab co-founder Lauren Domino, in the gallery below. Thanks to Katie Sikora for capturing the weekend so beautifully.
