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LAFAYETTE - “The Mervine Kahn Legacy” will be among the feature films shown during this weekend’s Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival.
The Rayne Historical District Association and Wild Productions have announced that the 80-minute documentary will be screened at noon Saturday, Jan. 28, at Cités des Arts.
“We’re very excited with this opportunity to share our film,” Bart Wild of Wild Productions said during a recent breakfast meeting with Martha Royer of the Rayne Historical District Associatoin.
Royer agreed. “This is really big for Rayne,” she said. “This is something that can grow and can help to bring visitors to our city.”
“Legacy,” in its current form, represents the merging of two documentaries.
The first tells the story of how Mervine Kahn, a French-speaking German Jew, settled in Rayne in 1884 and established his namesake general store which grew into a local institution and landmark.
“The Mervine Kahn Legacy” began as an oral history project with interviews of former Mervine Kahn Company employees with the help of students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Over 30 hours of interviews were collected, as well as photos and artifacts from the store.
“Volume I was all about the employees and why Mervine Kahn came to Rayne,” said Wild. “We interviewed dozens of people for the film — the oldest was 94 and the youngest was Kathy Lanthier, the person who locked the door on the final day of operation — and we never heard one bad word about that man.”
The second film focused on the connection between the Mervine Kahn Company and the proliferation of Cajun and Creole music in the early part of the twentieth century.
“Mervine Kahn brought the first accordions to the area through his connections in Germany and New York,” Wild explained. “Rayne is really the hub of the development of Cajun-French music.”
The film features interviews and music by Grammy Award winners Jo-El Sonnier and Wayne Toups as well as Steve Riley and a host of other musicians.
Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival was founded in 2006 by filmmaker Pat Mire after Hurricane Katrina caused the cancellation of the New Orleans Film Festival in the fall of 2005. It now has the distinction of being the second-longest running film festival in Louisiana.
Since 2006, Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival has presented, on an annual basis, a wide variety of documentary and narrative fiction films and filmmakers from around the United States and beyond.
The film festival opened Wednesday, Jan. 25, with the U.S. premier of “Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart” at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. The festival continues through Feb. 1.
The Festival will screen 163 official selections from COTB’s open call for submissions from independent filmmakers around the world along with panels discussions, workshops, music and parties.
Over 200 directors, producers, cinematographers, distributors, actors, grant sources and other industry professionals are expected to attend the festival from across the United States and Canada, as well as from Japan, Australia, India, the U.K. and France.
Film screenings will take place at Acadiana Center for the Arts, Cité des Arts, the Vermilionville Performance Center, and the Lafayette Public Library South Regional Branch.
The 2017 festival lineup was chosen from a total pool of more than 1,200 submissions, and includes 106 narrative films, of which 22 are features and 84 are shorts; 40 documentary films, of which 23 are features and 17 are shorts, and 17 animated short films.
The majority of the films are World, U.S. or Louisiana Premieres.
Included within the official selections are more than 32 French-language films and 23 films from Japan, as well as films from Cuba, Spain, the U.K., India, Australia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, China, Mauritius, Cyprus, the United Republic of Tanzania, Canada, France and across the United States.
For a schedule of film screenings, visit cinemaonthebayou.com.
You can also follow the Mervine Kahn Legacy and the Rayne Historical District Association on Facebook.

The Wolves and Lady Wolves traveled to Crowley Friday night at Crowley High, both picking up district wins.
The Wolves notched their first district win of their season with a 52-47 win over the Gents, despite a delay late in the fourth quarter due to an altercation among the players. The final three minutes were played with a cleared gym, free of spectators, following the ejection of two Crowley and three Rayne players.
The win places Rayne at 1-2 in district play, while the loss kept the Gents down at 0-3 in league play.
In earlier action, the Lady Wolves claimed a rather easy 61-32 win over Crowley, improving their slate to 15-12 overall and 4-1 in district play. Crowley fell to 6-15 overall and 0-4 in league play.
Rayne was led on the night by Keysuana Moore with 17 points, followed by Tajane Butler and Tiesha Young each at an even 10. Amari Collins chipped in eight points.
In earlier action, both squads hosted Washington-Marion, seeing the Wolves fall short at 63-79 and the Lady Wolves pulling out a 58-45 win.
Both squads were scheduled to host LaGrange this week, in addition to a road trip to Leesville on Friday as both teams will try to improve their district records.

The Rayne High School wrestling team attended the 2017 Ken Cole Invitational held Jan. 20-21 at Comeaux High School in Lafayette, one of the most prestigious tournaments held in the state during the wrestling season.
Top-seed Cooper Simon represented Rayne High in the 113-pound weight class. During the two-day tournament, Simon claimed a 13-4 win over Riley Horvath of Brother Martin High School, believed to be the first and only Rayne wrestler to claim a Ken Cole championship in a weight class.
Tyler Carriere, a Rayne wrestler also ranked coming into the tournament in the 195-pound weight class, completed the weekend with a third place finish, falling just short in the semi-finals.
Rayne’s third wrestler entering the weekend with a high ranking, Morgan Manuel claimed a fourth place finish in the 126-pound weight class.
Rayne HIgh varsity wrestlers entered into the tournmant were: 106 - Anthony Guillory, 113 - Cooper Simon, 120 - Sean Thevenet, 126 - Morgan Manuel, 132 - Trevor Young, 138 - Jordan McCrory, 145 - Darian Thomas, 152 - Dylan Istre, 160 - Charles Solomon, 170 - Miles Doucet, 182 - Hunner Seaux, 195 - Tyler Carriere, 220 - Blaze Miller, 285 - Torin Beniot.
Rayne High finished in the 13th position of the 51 teams entered in the tournament.
The Wolves were scheduled to participate in a tri-meet at Teurlings High School including Rayne, Live Oak and the hosting Rebels. The weekend will see Rayne participating in the Lafayette Metro Tournament at Northside High School.

The Rayne High School wrestling team competed in two separate tournaments over the weekend of events.
The 2017 Louisiana Classic Wrestling Tournament was held in Baton Rouge at Catholic High School, one of the strongest tournament held during the entire season.
Rayne High was represented by three top-ranked wrestlers, Cooper Simon, Morgan Manuel and Tyler Carriere, with all three placing.
Carriere and Manuel both placed fourth in their division, while Simon finished with a strong second.
Simon is Rayne High’s very first Louisiana Classic finalist. The junior placed in the 113-pound division.
Carriere, also a junior, placed in the 195-pound division, while Manuel (sophomore) placed at 126 pounds.
The second event attended by members of the RHS wrestlers was the 2017 Rayne High Invitational Wrestling Tournament.
A total of 19 schools were represented during the fourth annual Rayne tournament with over 200 wrestlers taking part.
The four Rayne wrestlers who placed at the Rayne tournament were:
Charles Solomon - 160 lbs. - champion;
Torin Beniot - 285 lbs. - 2nd place;
Trevor Young - 132 lbs. - 3rd place; and
Christian Svendsen - 220 lbs. - 3rd place.
As a team, the Wolves placed fifth overall despite having three key wrestlers attending the La. Classic.
The tournament was a great success and a huge thank you is extended to everyone who volunteered, including parents, volunteers, staff, alumni, cheerleaders, lead team, and anyone else who helped during the most successful Rayne High wrestling tournament to date.