Inside: Sundance-bound

"I want to make films," says Zack Godshall, seated at the breakfast nook of his Lafayette home. "I figured I couldn't make 20 films this year, so I'd try to make the one that felt the most pertinent; one that had the most weight on the heart."

Godshall warms his hands around his fresh mug of coffee.

"If I didn't tell that story, it'd tear me up."

If Godshall didn't tell his story, he also wouldn't have received an invite to premiere his film at one of the most renowned festivals in the realm of independent cinema. The 27-year-old Lafayette native, who graduated from film school only one year ago, will present Low and Behold, a fictional film with documentary elements, at the Sundance Film Festival.

Godshall, who co-wrote and directed the film, and co-writer/actor Barlow Jacobs submitted Low and Behold to Sundance at around 90 percent completion -- not uncommon for Sundance entrants struggling to meet the entry deadline. Expensive post-production steps, such as color correction and some sound editing, were taken to prepare the film for its Jan. 21 world premiere at the Prospector Square Theater in Park City, Utah. The film was accepted as part of Spectrum, a category Sundance describes as a tribute to compelling new voices and the creative spirit in independent filmmaking. A few notable Spectrum category alumni films include March of the Penguins, Open Water, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and An Inconvenient Truth.

"There are 24 films in the category (this year)," Godshall says. "There were some by famous directors and some by nobodies like me."

Sundance will screen the film three additional times between Jan. 25-28. Godshall will be present at each of the screenings for question and answer sessions.

The plot of Low and Behold follows Turner Stull (Jacobs), a would-be insurance claims adjuster who joins his uncle Stully (Robert Longstreet) in New Orleans just one month after Katrina's winds have died down. Stull meets an eccentric local named Nixon (Eddie Rouse), a factory worker who, amid the turmoil, only appears to be concerned over the whereabouts of his lost dog.

"That ended up being the bare bones plot of the story," Godshall says.

Characters who are seasoned claims adjusters teach Stull that the law of the land is to move fast, make money and, above all, never get emotionally involved. Overwhelmed by the stories he hears and the horrors he witnesses, Stull agrees to help Nixon search for his lost dog.

The idea for the plot came from Jacobs' real-life experience as a claims adjuster, a field he described to Godshall as being "this 90 percent male world." Jacobs, a New Orleans resident during Katrina, evacuated to his hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn. There, he was approached by a family friend who recommended he make the move to Florida, which was still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Wilma.

"It's delicate," Godshall says of the life of a claims adjuster. "A lot of these people are money hungry, but they have to be people persons as well."

For months, Jacobs was surrounded by hurricane survivors, each of which had shared their story of loss. He began working on the script, which he eventually completed with Godshall. The pair poured the money Jacobs earned in Florida into the production of the film.

Jacobs and Godshall, both film industry hopefuls who met by chance one weekend in New Orleans, had tossed around the idea of blending fictional story elements with nonfiction. They figured it would be a "cool idea" to tell a real story in a live environment, while still enjoying the liberties that come with shooting a fictional work.

"It's not quite Borat," Godshall says with a smile. "Just a fictional story with real people."

And real experiences. Godshall and Jacobs interviewed actual New Orleans and St. Bernard parish residents who were more than willing to share their stories of loss. Godshall says he hopes his film acts as an accurate, emotional window into post-disaster Gulf Coast life.

"But with no agenda," he says. "The audience is just as naive as the main character. He's just being their eyes and ears."

Godshall, a former LSU English major, earned his undergraduate degree from the university in 2002. While an undergrad, he registered for his first screenwriting course.

"I thought, This isn't so abstract," he says.

After graduation, Godshall spent the next three years at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. He earned his master's in film production in December 2005 and returned to Lafayette where he would teach spring film courses at South Louisiana Community College. Godshall also visited New Orleans, scouting the location as a potential backdrop for a film with a post-Katrina theme, between October 2005 and January 2006. Pre-production lasted until May 2006, which was when actual production technically began.

Though untold numbers of filmmakers pointed their lenses toward New Orleans in the storm's aftermath, Low and Behold remains the only Katrina-related film accepted into the festival.

"It's the only feature-length that I know of that deals with it," Godshall says. "Unless one of the short films (has a Katrina theme), this is the only one."

The experience of traveling through New Orleans in its post-Katrina state remains imprinted on the filmmaker's mind.

"It was one of those incredible eye-opening experiences," Godshall says. "It was this really strange ghost town. That overwhelming sense of loss. You get numb to it after a while -- it became a challenge to remember those initial reactions."

Godshall received word that his film was accepted into the festival while visiting family for Thanksgiving in Little Rock, Ark. His family, which reacted with enthusiastic support, will join him for the world premiere.

"I've been sleeping a lot," Godshall says of how he's been biding his free time since the announcement. "When I finish a project, I kind of get down in the dumps -- like that was my reason to live."

Godshall also resumed working on what most likely will become his next project -- a documentary on folk architects -- in the weeks following the notification of acceptance. Godshall has been sorting through the 11 hours of footage on an Apple G5 set up in his sister's childhood bedroom -- his current bedroom.

"I knew if I moved out and got a place of my own, I couldn't do (Low and Behold)," Godshall says. "I couldn't do it. Student loans are brutal."

New York-based production company Sidetrack Films became Low and Behold's executive producer in post production. The company doubled the project's total budget and made important steps, such as the color correction, possible. The William Morris Agency is handing North American sales for Low and Behold at Sundance.

Godshall says he hopes he can remain in Lafayette and further his film career. As it stands, he says, the city's film industry is toddling at best. Without the proper infrastructure or -- more importantly -- masses of eager industry professionals living in Lafayette, pursuing his career in his hometown might prove difficult.

Gerald Breaux, executive director for the Lafayette Convention & Visitor's Commission, remains a vocal proponent of Lafayette's film industry. He said he feels Godshall's acceptance into Sundance certainly is a step in the right direction for the Hub City.

"For (Godshall) to achieve that kind of status showcases that someone from Louisiana can succeed in the industry," Breaux says.

Breaux shares Godshall's concerns and hopes that studio interest in filming Lafayette will not wane.

"We've had a little bit of a difficulty in the state film office encouraging traffic into southwest Louisiana," Breaux says. "When New Orleans shut down for Katrina, the State Film Office and Department of Economic Development encouraged people to film up in Shreveport. We didn't have any housing here; we couldn't have a film come into Lafayette. All our housing was being utilized for evacuees. That left us with a void of not being able to accommodate at any price. That's why Shreveport got on the film map."

After Godshall's Sundance showing, who knows what's next?

"Getting into this one festival is that foot in the door," Godshall says. "I'm just going to keep working to find these opportunities. A lot of (aspiring filmmakers) seem to just wait around for people to come knock on their door. That's not the way to do it."