IN BREAUX BRIDGE — A special film screening was held at the Maison Madeleine on Lake Martin to pay tribute to Scott native Richard Lormand. He was a film publicist and filmmaker who died in 2018 from lung cancer in Paris, France, where he lived and worked.
Lormand was renowned in the international film industry and attended lavish film festivals such as Cannes in France and Locarno in Switzerland. However, his overseas achievements never made him forget his Louisiana roots.
This event was organized by longtime friend Becca Begnaud, who played the leading role in Ti-Boys Wife. She knew the filmmaker since childhood but tells me, he was always humble despite all his successes.
"Nobody here knows all the things he accomplished, and he never let it get to his head, you know, like he would always come home, and when he was home he was just Richie," said Begnaud.
Due to his international traveling and career endeavors, Lormand's work is well known around Europe yet, not as widely known in his hometown. A film anthropologist who spoke at the screening says this event will showcase Lormand's art to his community.
"It's a way to honor his memory and legacy but also make his work known to the world because he was a filmmaker who had a career in France," said Xavier Robillard. "Maybe because his career was international, his work was not as known here in Louisiana as it should've been."
The trio of films shown at the screening was Ti-boy’s Wife, Lagniappe, and Couche-Couche. All of these were produced and filmed in Louisiana, showing his love of his home state and his passion for the Creole language.
"I think he was deeply in love with the language, and he wishes people had been able to speak it more and keep it alive." said Robillard.
Begnaud said that even though he traveled the world, he took his city of Scott with him.
"You can leave the country but you can't take the country out of the boy, he can leave his culture but couldn't take the culture out of him."
