- Trouble the Water Opens August 22 in New York and Los Angeles with a nationwide release to follow
Greetings ya’ll. I am back in full force. Sorry for the delay in postings. As you all may know, I currently work for the National Black Arts Festival and we just concluded our ten-day 20th Anniversary celebration. What a blast it was and I am so exhausted and ready for my vacation. I am thankful for the opportunity to work on such a important event and witness history being made. I saw Gladys Knight perform live at the Atlanta Civic Center with her own symphonic orchestra (fantastic), Wynton Marsalis and his quartet perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (amazing), Urban Bush Women, Ron K. Brown’s Evidence Dance company and dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform a tribute to Judith Jamison (awe-inspiring). My favorite and most memorable moment was viewing a documentary film that was screened on the closing night of the Pan African Film Festival. Its named Trouble the Water and was directed and produced by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal.
This film had me completely enthralled from the first frame. I knew it was a documentary about Hurricane Katrina but what I wasn’t prepared for was to be introduced to one of the strongest, most beautiful black women on the planet. Her name is Kimberly Roberts Rivers and she and her husband were long time residents of the New Orleans 9th Ward (France St. for my New Orleans folks). She decided to pull out her video camera and tape footage of her community before the hurricane hit. She and her husband wanted to leave but couldn’t because they didn’t have transportation. And so the story begins. By societal standards her thick New Orleans accent and gold teeth wouldn’t count for beautiful, but her strength, resilience, love for God and her husband and witty sense of humor, even on the brink of death remind me how awesome we are. She captures some very moving footage, a side of Katrina we’ve never seen and I won’t tell the whole movie because I encourage you all to go out see this film. Trouble the Water will be released in Atlanta on August 29th at the Midtown Art Cinema.
Trouble the Water was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. “This astonishingly powerful documentary takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. Incorporating remarkable home video footage shot by Kimberly Rivers Roberts-an aspiring rap artist trapped with her husband in the 9th Ward-Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal weave this insider’s view of Katrina with a devastating portrait of the hurricane’s aftermath. Trouble the Water is a redemptive tale of two self-described street hustlers who become heroes-two unforgettable people who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning”.
I remember calling my dad, who lived in New Orleans at the time and asking him if I could come and visit because I had never been to New Orleans before. He was on his to Atlanta to get away from the impending storm. He now lives in Atlanta with his wife and son and because of Katrina. We now live in the same city for the first time since I was nine years old. We are getting closer to one another and learning from one another. I am thankful for Katrina for that reason. Kimberly is thankful for Katrina because it made her and her husband realize their dreams and change there existence from drug dealing to creating a life that they and God will be proud of.
As I learned in this film and in my own life, what may seem insurmountable is really just an opportunity to prove to yourself that you can. I don’t believe there is a single person who wasn’t moved or touched by Hurricane Katrina and the failing of the levees in New Orleans. Please leave me some comments. How were you changed or inspired by Katrina? Have you seen the film already? What did you think about it?
