Transplanted Musicians Documentary Premieres in New Orleans
Filed under: Documentary, New Releases
Hurricane Katrina and its effects on the Gulf Coast have provided material for a number of documentaries -- a whole category was devoted to these films during the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in April. One documentary shown during the festival premiered in New Orleans on Sunday. In New Orleans Music in Exile, filmmaker Robert Mugge took his camera on a quest to find New Orleans musicians whom he hadn't heard about since before Katrina hit. Mugge traveled as far as Houston, Austin, and Memphis to track down musicians such as Irma Thomas (shown above with Mugge), Cyril Neville, Kermit Ruffins, Cowboy Mouth, and The Iguanas. He must have been at least partially successful, since most of those acts played Jazz Fest a week or two ago.The film's New Orleans premiere was followed by live performances from Thomas, Ruffins, and the ReBirth Brass Band. If you don't live in New Orleans, you still have a chance to see New Orleans Music in Exile. The documentary will be shown on Friday and Saturday on the cable channel Starz. Since I know Cyril Neville and some of The Iguanas live in Austin now, I hope the documentary gets a theatrical showing here as well as in the other cities featured in the film.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-16-2006 @ 6:50PM
Stephen Rue said...
?New Orleans Story? Documentary Feature Film
By New Orleans Filmmakers
Completes 250 Hours of Filming
Contact: Stephen Rue, Executive Producer
(504) 319-9990; StephenRRue@aol.com
New Orleans filmmakers Stephen Rue and Gabriel Dayan have gone through a personal and emotional journey as they have just completed filming over 250 hours of footage (over the last 11 months) for their upcoming feature length documentary film titled ?New Orleans Story.? Filmmaker and attorney Stephen Rue, a life long New Orleanian had started filming a documentary in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans three months prior to Hurricane Katrina destroying his city. He and his colleague Gabriel Dayan were producing a film regarding the Habitat for Humanity efforts in this impoverished area of New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina took aim on the Gulf Coast, Rue?s home and law offices were flooded and the city that he knew and loved were changed forever, The cameras continued to roll as the documentary also changed.. Rue and fellow filmmaker Dayan found themselves in the midst of the largest natural disaster in American history. Rue states, ?No one who is not from New Orleans can truly tell the New Orleans Story. We had no choice, it had become a personal mission to record history in the making and let the camera come along on this journey that we share with our extended family of Hurricane Katrina victims.?
?I have been in attics where people have died,? Rue said. ?We have been with homeowners as they see their destroyed homes for the very first time. We have shared tears with those who were once strangers.? Rue continued, ?Our goal is to have the most contemporaneous and comprehensive film made regarding Hurricane Katrina? Stephen Rue concluded by saying, ?As Americans go on with their own lives, we strive to let the people know that the tragedy continues; we must all heed the lessons learned at the expense of the lives lost and our great American city left in a wake of destruction and despair.?
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