"Grace, race, and small-town football" LPB premiers Reel South series with Flat Town documentary To some people, football is just a game. However, in Ville Platte it has been turned into a way to bridge the gap between a once divided community. Each year on one fall night, under the Friday night lights of a Ville Platte football field, a vision by Ville Platte native Tim Fontenot and his son - Jacob - comes to life with the playing of the Tee Cotton Bowl. It is a game where the public and private school in one city take each other on in the hopes of bringing home the coveted Tee Cotton Bowl trophy for the year. Tim and Jacob's vision continues an effort that began with desegregation decades ago in the small Cajun city. As Mel LeCompte, Jr. wrote in Sharpened Iron: The Tee Cotton Bowl Story, this game, played between Sacred Heart School and Ville Platte High, is about "grace, race, and small-town football." It is special, and there is only one place it happens.... Ville Platte. It is so unique - garnering its own patron Saint, Pope John Paul II – a short documentary about the game, titled Flat Town, will air on Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) on Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. The documentary from Reel South is produced by Gavin Sullivan and is part of a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series highlighting stories of the American South. "Exploring different perspectives and providing a platform for those perspectives to be seen and heard is part of public media's mission," says LPB President and CEO Beth Courtney. "LPB is proud to team with Reel South and our public media partners to make sure these diverse Southern experiences are seen by a national audience." Prior to the broadcast premier on April 8, a virtual premiere and filmmaker discussion will take place on Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Panelists for the virtual screening and conversation will be Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine, Tim Fontenot, and Flat Town filmmaker Bryan Tucker. Hosting the discussion will be Acadiana-based sportswriter and talk-radio host Raymond Partsch III. To RSVP for the free virtual event, go to www.lpb.org/flattown. For more information, contact Colleen Spillane, LPB Public Information Officer, at 1-800-272-8161 ext. 4453 or Evangeline Parish Tourism at (337) 363-1878.