Katrina aftermath series to air on PBS

[bluesgirl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070525/ap_en_tv/katrina_right_to_return;_ylt=Ajp08LXHVaH493X4EU08j 9NxFb8C

NEW ORLEANS - Oscar-winning filmmaker
Jonathan Demme didn't know what he was going to do with 200 hours of footage of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, but he knew the images told compelling stories about what happened when the floodwaters receded.
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Demme focused on residents of the devastated Lower 9th Ward, following their journeys for more than a year after the hurricane. The more time he spent in the neighborhood, "the more the enormity started to emerge," he said. "I realized, this is what America needs to know about."

[Corona]

That sounds really intriguing....their stories need to be told...they need a voice..hopefully this will help.

[NeenAtlanta]

"The result is "Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward," to be presented on Tavis Smiley's late-night PBS program for five nights beginning Monday."

This starts tonight, on the 12midnight Tavis Smiley show.

[breambob]

10pm on LPB stations. Check your local PBS listings. Can't wait to see this, late night is booked this week :)

[AtPontchartrain]

10pm on LPB stations. Check your local PBS listings. Can't wait to see this, late night is booked this week :)

NY Times reviewed it:

================

One recurring figure is the Rev. Melvin Jones, known as Pastor Mel, first seen in the winter of 2006 playing cheerleader to a room full of sad-eyed men by reminding them of the people they plucked from the water. His own story is that he overcame drug abuse and homelessness to become pastor of Bethel Community Baptist Church in the Ninth Ward, which has a program for male substance abusers. Pastor Mel lost his house and his church but is rebuilding both. He wants others to stay and fight too, he says.

“The answer is not the government taking the land and selling it to a developer for a sweetheart deal,” he says in the film, repeating rumors he has heard of government plans to transform mostly black New Orleans into what he calls a “boutique city” for tourists.

The spring 2006 segment features Herreast Harrison, the widow of Donald Harrison Sr., who was the Big Chief of a Mardi Gras Indian tribe known as the Guardians of the Flame. She is also the mother of the jazz saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr. and the grandmother of young trumpeter Christian Scott. Every year the Guardians of the Flame would dress up and sing in the streets of New Orleans.

Mrs. Harrison, an educator, talks about saving a few Mardi Gras costumes but losing so much when her home of 40 years was destroyed. In the film she fingers a feathered headdress from Mardi Gras.

“When they masqueraded in the neighborhood, they brought beauty and eloquence,” she says, explaining that the tribe’s music and manner transmitted a culture that mingled African and American Indian elements.

Her daughter, Cherice Harrison-Nelson, talks about being an artist who helps schoolchildren use art to cope with the dislocation of the storm, despite, she says, being told by FEMA that she should relocate to Houston. She has lived in a series of hotels, she says.

Carolyn S. Parker, filmed last summer, talks about trying to lure her neighbors back to the city. But her son, Rahsaan M. Parker, declares, “You wouldn’t be able to survive 18 hours the way we’re living down here.”

Mrs. Parker cheerfully notes the irregular mail service and says her only wish is to be back in her home by Christmas. She has been slowly rebuilding her house but is still in a trailer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/movies/28demm.html

[KeyWest Bruce]

I watched the first installment last night (on at 4:30 a.m.here)....taped it of course! Excellent! This segment was filmed in Jan.2006.....four months after the storm. The guys who were interviewed ( a reverend in the 9th Ward; and a guy from Texas who was one of the first to start rescuing people after the levees broke). They had some fascinating things to say....and criticized the whole 'recovery effort' and dreadful inaction by the authorities. Also interviewed was Ernie K-Doe's widow, Antoinette. She was great as well. I admire her determination and desire to restore and rebuild....as she did with her club. The preacher said something that was chilling. He said that he heard from a good source that they were going to build condos along the Industrial Canal (by 9th Ward) and after a period of time, when they saw people weren't returning.....then they would build the levees right....and turn the area into a 'tourist boutique' area or something like that. I wouldn't put it past the developers.....the longer former residents stay away (and they certainly aren't doing anything to encourage their return).....I shudder to think it.....but they might just gentrify that whole area. The wonderful people interviewed in this first segment are standing firm and urging everyone else to do the same. The name of the documentary is "Right To Return"....and I hope that this opens a lot of eyes, and that it never happens. When I hear of anyone coming back, or any new business (or old business) reopening....it is a major step toward restoring the communities that are the lifeblood of New Orleans.