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Shadow Pictures
83 minutes. DVD. $20 for home use; $100 for schools/libraries/nonprofits/community organizations; $200 for universities/corporations.
Nineteen child survivors of Hurricane Katrina express their experiences of the disaster in a stunning documentary released on its third anniversary. From poor to privileged, from light-skinned to dark, these remarkable children, ages 5 to 13, speak and draw their realities free of adult interpretation, beyond expert juxtaposition of their voices and animation of their art.
Uacobi, 7, says, “It was scary. We had no lights, no food, and we ran out of money. We were hungry.”
Sam, 8, is lucky to have his home, school and friends intact. “I get mad when people don’t help. I want to give more myself.”
Joshua, 8, plans to be an inventor, starting with a trailer that travels in space and under water. The trailer where he lives is “kind of squinchy.”
Dakota, 13, finds it “devastating to have everything you love taken from you. It’s not always easy for me to get up and go to school.”
Lucy, 7, re-enacts the flood by drowning Barbie in a bucket of water.
Erica, 10, describes the Convention Center, where “it was so hot … babies were dying.” On her empty street, she misses her friends and cries. Her portrait of multi-hued Picasso-like faces is “called ‘All in One.’ No matter what color, you all get along.”
Award-winning filmmaker Laura Belsey and producer Babs Johnson hope the film will “inspire people to continue to help in our long recovery, making children’s issues one of the top priorities.” Fifteen percent of its proceeds go toward programs for New Orleans children. Viewers will be uplifted by the children’s resilience and haunted by their stories. (212) 929-8906.
