First docs from the Gulf Coast region featuring Nine World Premieres

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival announces the Southern Sidebar: Katrina films. The screenings, sponsored by Turner South for the 2006 festival will show for audiences in Durham, North Carolina on April 6-9th this year. Traditionally showcasing regional films in the Southern Sidebar program, this year the program will feature documentaries shot of the Gulf region and its people following Hurricane Katrina. Full Frame is the first festival to feature films from Hurricane Katrina and all nine films are World Premieres.



In addition to the films, Southern Sidebar: Katrina will include a panel entitled The Katrina Experience, where representative filmmakers will talk about the challenges of filming after the hurricane.



FFDFF Founder, CEO and Artistic Director Nancy Buirski states, “It is the commitment of the documentary filmmaker to delve deeper than the news media to excavate the stories underneath the rubble and between the broken slats. First person testimony was available as soon as the waters cleared, but even those testaments to heartache and destruction were told before the deeper impact was felt. The stories we present to you in the nine films making up our Southern Sidebar approach the tragedy from unusual, often surprising angles.”

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The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is produced by Doc Arts Inc. its Presenting Sponsors are Duke University and The New York Times.





FULL FRAME DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL 2006

Southern Sidebar: Katrina World Premieres



After Katrina: Rebuilding St. Bernard’s Parrish Directed by Adam Finberg

A sensitive elegy to a working class community’s destroyed neighborhood and its passionate commitment to rebuild. Elegant use of music reflects the spirit of the enterprise.



An Eye in the Storm Directed by Neil Alexander

This beautifully shot film offers up first person accounts starting from the day the hurricane barreled its way into the lives of New Orleans’s residents through their struggle to make sense of the aftermath. A stunning video diary that goes beyond television accounts to become an historical artifact of disaster.



Desert Bayou Directed by Alex LeMay

In the wake of the hurricane, 600 African Americans were airlifted to the almost entirely white state of Utah...without their knowledge. Desert Bayou seeks to examine whether two seemingly diverse cultures can come together in a time of utter chaos.



New Orleans Furlough Directed by Amir Bar-Lev

A member of the National Guard returns from Iraq and sees in New Orleans’ devastation a new mission. But his personal demons create another and unique havoc making him as dysfunctional as the government was in coping with the tragedy.



New Orleans Music in Exile Directed by Robert Mugge

Performances and interviews with noted New Orleans musician such as Dr. John, Cyril Neville, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, the Iguanas, Cowboy Mouth, and the ReBirth Brass Band illustrate how Hurricane Katrina and its consequences wreaked havoc on music and life in this uniquely colorful city.



Putting the River in Reverse Directed by Matthew Bizzell

Music legend Elvis Costello journeys to New Orleans to celebrate the songbook and spirit of the hurricane-battered city’s Renaissance man, Allen Toussaint.



Still Standing Directed by Paola Mendoza

A filmmaker comforts her Colombian grandmother as they examine the wreckage of her home in Waveland, Mississippi. The vulnerability of the foreign and the elderly is poignantly revealed, as well as this grandmother’s surprising indomitable spirit.



Tim’s Island Directed by Laszlo Fulop and Wickes Helmboldt

On August 29, 2005, sixteen people, seven dogs, and eight cats took shelter in
Tim's loft in an old dairy in New Orleans. A wry sociological study of group behavior as the members of the group cope with survival.



To Be Continued: The story of the TBC Brass Band Directed by Jason DeSilva and Colleen O’Halloran)

The inspiring story of a nine piece New Orleans Brass Band as its members recover from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and embark on the journey to find each displaced band mate, all who sought refuge in cities across the American South.