New Orleans native Wendell Pierce will return to the local spotlight on Saturday, Aug. 22, when the boxing drama They Fight receives its New Orleans premiere at the Orpheum Theater.
Pierce, who appears in the film alongside André Holland and Samira Wiley, is expected to walk the red carpet before the screening and participate in a conversation with the audience afterward. The talkback will be moderated by New Orleans Film Society Board President Doug Spearman.
Presented by the New Orleans Film Society and Andscape, the screening is part of both the Orpheum’s Free Summer Movie Series and NOFS/365, the Film Society’s year-round programming initiative. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the film begins at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public with an advance RSVP. The Orpheum lists the screening among its August summer movie events.
Written and directed by Sheldon Candis, They Fight follows Walt Manigan, played by Holland, a formerly incarcerated boxer struggling to rebuild his life and reconnect with his family. His path leads him back to a deteriorating youth boxing gym in Southeast Washington, D.C., where he begins coaching a group of teenagers preparing for a national championship.
Pierce plays Slim, a mentor at the recreation center who helps draw Walt back into the gym and toward a renewed sense of purpose. The story eventually centers on two young friends whose pursuit of a championship places them on a collision course inside the ring. Based on the 2018 documentary of the same name, the film examines redemption, mentorship and the role community institutions can play in neighborhoods facing violence, disinvestment and displacement.
The cast also includes J. Alphonse Nicholson, Amanda Warren and Andre Royo. The film made its world premiere at the 2026 Tribeca Festival before being released for streaming in July, but the Orpheum event will give New Orleans audiences an opportunity to experience it collectively and hear directly from one of its stars.
“This city is built on resilience, community and the power of starting over, qualities that are at the very heart of this film,” Pierce said in the announcement. “It is especially meaningful to share this story with a city that has long embodied the spirit of perseverance and hope.”
Pierce’s appearance gives the screening an unmistakably local dimension. Although They Fight is rooted in Washington, D.C., its focus on neighborhood institutions, young people searching for direction and communities fighting to preserve spaces of their own should feel familiar to many New Orleans viewers.
The August premiere also serves as an early lead-in to the 37th New Orleans Film Festival, which is scheduled for Oct. 22 through Oct. 27. Andscape will return as the festival’s presenting sponsor after beginning a multiyear partnership with the New Orleans Film Society in 2025. The Black-led media platform, which operates under Disney and ESPN, produces work centered on Black identity, culture and sports.
Last year’s festival was the largest in the organization’s history, according to the Film Society, with more than 150 films, over 50 conference events and more than 400 hours of programming. The festival also hosted parties, workshops and a live podcast studio while bringing filmmakers and audiences together at venues throughout New Orleans.
The New Orleans Film Festival has showcased independent filmmakers and emerging voices since 1989. It is an Academy Award-qualifying festival for documentary, narrative and animated short films and regularly attracts filmmakers from Louisiana, the broader South and countries around the world.
The complete NOFF37 lineup will further define what the festival brings to the city in October. For now, the premiere of They Fight offers an early example of the kind of event the Film Society and Andscape hope to cultivate: a film grounded in Black storytelling, presented in a major New Orleans venue and followed by a conversation with an artist whose connection to the city runs far deeper than the red carpet.
