Opinion Editorials, August 2007
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Katrina Two Years Later: Of 160,000 Displaced New Orleans Citizens Weary of Talk, Some Take Action
By Cathy Mouton
Cinema Libre Studio, August 29, 2007
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -
On the second anniversary of the hurricane that resulted in the worst U.S. natural disaster ever …“slow, insufficient and misguided federal policy is keeping tens of thousands of displaced American families from realizing their human right to return and rebuild their lives and communities." (Jeffrey Buchanan, Blueprint for Gulf Renewal, August/September 2007)*.
Two
years later, as the struggle to collect promised aid, return home, rebuild
and recover looms perilously close to failure, a story being told by some
600 New Orleans evacuees may not have had a
voice without Taproot Productions’ documentary
DESERT BAYOU.
Featuring
Master P, whose parents were among the displaced and
Utah-transferred evacuees, DESERT
BAYOU centers on the experiences of two families
in this group who found themselves not only forced from the only homes they
knew, but literally sequestered on planes, plopped into a desert on an
abandoned military base 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City, and forced to
maneuver in a chess game ruled by members of a predominantly white, racially
ignorant and nearly exclusively Mormon enclave.
Faced
with a continued bureaucratic indifference that began following the
disaster, the personal stories that emerge from
the evacuees add a very human element to a
story that was unfathomable by most of the nation and now nearly
incomprehensible by those who hear their stories, review news clips of both
the Utah Governor, Mayor of Salt Lake City and, comically, a few of the less
enlightened citizens of Salt Lake City.
The victims’ conflicts and personal growth is portrayed from fear
and isolation to discovery and solution.
“DESERT BAYOU gives voice to those victims who suffered the aftermath of a tragedy that evolved on a daily basis,” says director Alex LeMay (THE BULLS OF SUBURBIA).
“In
the midst of this process, there are chronicles of plenty of good deeds,
good people and community; religious and social
figures whose good will eventually prevails."
LeMay’s recently completed documentary, DESERT BAYOU, will open October 5, 2007 in both New York and New Orleans, followed by a platformed release in several U.S. cities, and is distributed by Cinema Libre Studio. For more information: log onto
www.cinemalibrestudio.com
www.desertbayoumovie.com
About Cinema Libre Studio
Cinema Libre Studio is a haven for independent filmmakers with views, offering one-stop shopping for production, co-production, and distribution, foreign sales, marketing, and post-production services. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company is best known for distributing social issue documentaries and narrative features in theatres and on DVD which include OUTFOXED, UNCOVERED: THE WAR ON IRAQ, THE EMPIRE IN AFRICA, CONVENTIONEERS, DARFUR DIARIES and many more, including the upcoming documentary release with Participant Productions, ANGELS IN THE DUST (New York 9/14, Los Angeles 9/28 and selected cities).
About Taproot Productions
Taproot Productions, LLC is a Chicago-based production and post-production facility that has been delivering award-winning motion pictures and commercial media for fourteen years. Taproot operates a robust commercial and corporate media department and is a leader in creating rich media for the web.
For more information visit www.cinemalibrestudio.com and www.taprootproductions.com.
Contact:
Cathy Mouton/Beth Portello
bportello@cinemalibrestudio.com
* Jeffrey Buchanan of the RFK Memorial Center in Washington, D.C. is a co-author for the Institute for Southern Studies’ Blueprint for Gulf Renewal. BACKGROUND:
The
Institute for Southern Studies is a non-profit research and education center
based in Durham, N.C. Since October 2005, the
Institute's Gulf Watch project has published several nationally-acclaimed
reports on the Katrina recovery, including The Mardi Gras Index (Feb. 2006),
One Year after Katrina (Aug/Sept 2006) and A New Agenda for the Gulf Coast
(Feb. 2007), which have been featured on dozens of media outlets including
ABC News, BBC News, "Live From" on CNN, Cox Media, Reuters,
Time.com and XM Radio.
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