Award-Winning Louisiana Filmmaker, LSU Alumnus And Associate Professor Zack Godshall to Screen New Documentary Feature
September 14, 2022
Godshall and other community leaders to discuss homelessness and mental health in the capital area region following the screening
LSU Associate Professor of Creative Writing & Screen Arts Zack Godshall, director of “The Laughing Man”
BATON ROUGE – “The Laughing Man,” a feature documentary by LSU Associate Professor of Creative Writing & Screen Arts Zack Godshall, will play at the Manship Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. The film will be followed by a panel discussion about issues of homelessness.
“The Laughing Man” is an intimate and tragicomic portrait of East Texas native and longtime Louisiana resident Thomas Alan Williamson. Though known for his infectious laugh, Thomas has lived a life haunted by tragedy, mental illness and estrangement. He’d like to visit his dying father back home in Texas, but Thomas faces homelessness in Baton Rouge, making every day a struggle to survive. A mosaic of slice-of-life encounters, interviews, photographs, first-person confessionals, phone calls, and hand-written journals, the film creates an intimate connection with a remarkable individual who is but one of the many seeking shelter under our freeways and refuge in our hospitals.
The film was supported in part by New Orleans Film Society’s Southern Producers Lab and the Louisiana Board of Regents.
Godshall, a native of Lafayette, makes films about unsung people and places that exist along the fringes of culture. His films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; played on Time.com, Topic, and The Documentary Channel; and received praise from The NY Times, The Atlantic, and The Huffington Post. Godshall studied creative writing and photography at LSU and later earned an MFA in film directing from UCLA. He currently teaches film and screenwriting in the creative Writing and screen arts programs at LSU.
After the screening, Godshall will be joined by local community leaders to discuss homelessness and mental health in the capital area region.
Tickets can be purchased here. The film will also screen in Shreveport on Oct. 12 and in Lafayette on Oct. 26. For more information, please visit www.zackgodshall.com or email jilliangodshall@gmail.com. An EPK for the film can be found at https://www.zackgodshall.com/the-laughing-man.