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 January 2007, I was a volunteer before
I was a filmmaker. In between touching up paint and shoveling rotting
family heirlooms, I interviewed and filmed those around me: other
volunteers, neighbours and curious passersby.
Still Lives was made for a couple
hundred dollars (cost of the plane ticket and digital tapes) with
a compact video camera and a MiniDisc recorder.
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