We’re excited to premiere a trilogy of scene-setting new films from London-based directorial duo James & James (comprising James Coyle and Jamie McCormack). Each of the works comprises an atmospheric portrait of a person and a place; in this instance, the pair chose Louisiana as their location, leading to ten days of street-casting and filming in the city of New Orleans. The music for each film was scored by London-based musicians St Francis Hotel. Here, the creative duo behind this tender triptych talk about filming the urban cowboys who call this much mythologized city home:
“What’s the coolest thing we could find in New Orleans in the short time we’re there? That’s the question we posed ourselves and, inspired by a Time article released earlier that year, and based on our limited knowledge of the second line parades that take place in the city, the answer we agreed on was urban cowboys. That was only half the battle, as we still had to find our contributors.
“We went about the task like private detectives, a couple of greenhorn gumshoes, searching the city and chasing down the odd horse rider or cowboy we might see riding on the opposite side of the street. After a few dead ends, bad recommendations, and lost causes we were directed out to Pontchartrain Stables and on arrival knew we were in luck, where a real sense of peace sits over the place like a well fitted saddle. We were welcomed straight away and invited into their lives in a way we never expected.”
