The red carpet has been rolled out right here in Natchitoches, Louisiana for the premiere of “The Dirty South.” The film was produced and directed by Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s graduate Matthew Yerby. On Nov. 10, 2023, the movie will premiere in theaters around the world. The show has already premiered in cities like Los Angeles and New York, and made its premiere back to Natchitoches, La, where the film was filmed last year.
Yerby’s friends and family attended the event to see his work come to life. The movie has taken seven years to make and the premiere in Natchitoches gives him the opportunity to share it with the community.
“I’m happy that we actually had to get this to Natchitoches just before we go into theaters,” Yerby said. “I love that we get one special moment with them.”
Leading actor Shane West was also thrilled to be back in Natchitoches. “Also, you know, growing up in Baton Rouge we’d always heard of Natchitoches as being this very cool town that had the Festival of Lights, great food, the Cajun and Creole background and being back here for this- it’s awesome,” he said.
The unexpected career journey that Yerby went through has prepared him for the premiere: a full circle moment that he enjoyed experiencing. He never expected to be in the film industry.
“Never. Like I said, I studied psychology and I would have never thought this would be where I was today,” Yerby said. “But I have to give it to Northwestern State – they taught me to be a great writer and that’s,you know, as many papers as I wrote there they taught me to write, to do the work, and here we are.”
Yerby brought in NSU students to work behind the scenes while filming the movie. One of those students was Logan Bordelon, who shared his experience and joined the premiere.
“It was really busy. I was a production assistant,” he said. “So I did a lot of the background work but long hours a lot of work but it really paid off. I had a blast. It was so much fun.”
