Eve's Bayou is a 1997 American Southern Gothic drama film written and directed by Kasi Lemmons in her feature directorial debut. Samuel L. Jackson served as a producer, and starred in the film with Lisa Nicole Carson, Jurnee Smollett, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Meagan Good, and Diahann Carroll. Following its premiere at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival, it was released in theaters on November 7, 1997 to both critical and commercial success; it grossed $14 million domestically on a budget of $4 million, becoming the most commercially successful independent film of 1997. The unreliability of memory and observation function as important themes throughout the film.