All Posts Tagged With: "katrina’s children"

Last night I attended a screening of Katrina’s Children as part of the Environmental Film Festival at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The documentary tells the story of Hurricane Katrina landing in New Orleans as well as the aftermath from the perspective of the children who where affected. Interviews as well as the artwork of the children are used to weave an intricate tale.

I have never seen a documentary told from the perspective of children and I found it very effective in this case. The children tell the entire story. You rarely hear the voice of the interviewer but the children’s voices are always present. I find the voices of the children refreshing – as kids tend to be very honest and they can sometimes make a difficult situation lighthearted. While the kids don’t all have the same story, they all have been traumatized in some way by the storm and its aftermath. Many have seen things that no adult should have to see let alone a child. I also think that these children explore topics that many adults would shy away from or wouldn’t even consider. I find that the use of the kids’ artwork (as well as the animation) gives an idea of how devastating that hurricane was in their lives. There is one particular drawing that stands out where the boy depicts a hurricane that had teeth biting off roofs of houses and claws that were ripping the tops off of skyscrapers and picking up cars and buses. One girl drew a very intricate panel style drawing where a man could no longer take the situation of being trapped in New Orleans near and committed suicide by jumping from a bridge near the Superdome.

According to filmmaker Laura Belsey, who was in attendance, the children were selected mostly randomly but the creators made sure to include children representative of the socioeconomic demographics of New Orleans before Katrina hit. You do see a lot of differences in the level of impact to each family as well as how well the families were (or were not) able to rebound from the situation. What is clear though is that while we are hearing reports of New Orleans being rebuilt, many of these children (and their families) were isolated – either as the only or one of a few families that are in their neighborhoods or living in another state isolated from everything they know.

I hope this film can help shed light on what still needs to be done as well as the fact that children really need to talk about what has happened to them.  I would think in this situation that many adults as well as children would need some type of trauma counseling.

The creators intend to distribute the film via the internet. Check out katrinaschildren.com to view the trailer and to find a screening near you.