Still Lives, a short documentary by Anna Sarkissian
11:45, MiniDV, colour

Synopsis
More than a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, some neighbourhoods have turned into virtual wastelands. The highest price was paid by the most destitute. They lost everything: homes, possessions, sometimes even a family member whose body was never found. Relocated to trailers, they are waiting for the authorities or humanitarian associations to dig their houses out from the rubble and rebuild them.

This short film gives voice to the victims as well as to the volunteers, who wonder how useful they can be in the absence of a proper aid system. The filmmaker conveys a distinctive point of view in her almost surrealistic images of destroyed neighbourhoods. Like the volunteers who root through the ruins, she gleans memories from those whose lives were forever changed. - RIDM

Experience
Over the course of 10 days in New Orleans in January 2007, I was a volunteer before I was a filmmaker. In between touching up paint and shoveling rotting family heirlooms in St. Bernard Parish, I interviewed and filmed those around me: other volunteers, neighbours and curious passersby.

Still Lives was made with a compact digital video camera and a MiniDisc recorder.

Digital distribution
Available from the Online Video Network (OVN).