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Last Updated: May 9th, 2008 - 01:47:53 |
The first images the world viewed of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were of people trapped on the roofs of houses and wading through putrid waters. Often the images were accompanied by silence or the noise of the news helicopters.
A new documentary, “Faubourg Tremé,” premiering April 25 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, preserves the improvisational sounds of New Orleans and, as paradoxical as that preservation may be amid the remaining devastation, the documentary succeeds.
Without the initial intentions of making a documentary on the aftermath Hurricane Katrina, directors Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie resist the exploitative sensationalism that often comes when covering tragedies. Instead, the majestic foundations of the location lured them. Faubourg Treme, a neighborhood in New Orleans, is considered by many historians to be the oldest Black neighborhood in America. Its origins date to back well before the Civil War. In fact, as the documentary details, while most African Americans were still enslaved in the early 1800’s, free Blacks in Faubourg Treme were authors and composers. They were also some of the earliest protesters for civil rights and were successful in segregating the city’s schools and streetcars.
While the area’s history and heritage was the initial lure for the filmmakers, the focus of the film changed in the aftermath of Katrina and the subsequent flooding of 90 percent of the city, including Faubourg Treme. Many of the residents have been unable to return home and, in many ways, some of the same battles fought almost 200 years ago are being fought again.
The film captures one memorable subject, Glen David Andrews, who is former drug addict who turns to music for salvation. He survives the horrendous experience of the hurricane and he struggles to live elsewhere. In his new, less familiar home, he is arrested because he has no permit to play his music. His presence in the narrative could possibly serve as an allegory for the people of New Orleans; however, true to the inconclusive elegiac spirit of the documentary, the filmmakers make a compelling protest against his damnation by an unforgiving society.
It is an inconvenience for Black people and other marginalized people to forget. It is worse for communities voices to be silenced.. If this documentary does not present anything necessarily new, it is only because there is still much to learn from history and—a heritage that is timeless.
“Faubourg Tremé” will be shown on Friday, April 25 at 9:15 p.m. at the AMC Village VII, 66 Third Avenue at 11th Street. Further screenings will be held on Saturday, April 26 at 8:30 p.m., Monday, April 28 at 9:30 p.m. and Thursday, May 1 at 3:15 p.m. at the Village East Cinemas at 181 Second Avenue at 12th Street. The final screening will be on Friday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m. at 890 Broadway at 19th Street. For tickets go to http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tff/tickets/.
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