Using Film to 'Weather the Storm'

Angela is one of six students who film their own PSAs about their post-Katrina lives in "Children of New Orleans: Still Weathering the Storm." Photo: courtesy of Still Weathering the Storm

What do New Orleans teenagers think of what's happened to their lives and their communities in the wake of the biggest natural disaster to hit U.S. shores? You'll know more after watching "Children of New Orleans: Still Weathering the Storm," a 26-minute documentary that follows six middle-school students as they're given video cameras and the task of chronicling their post-Katrina lives.

Last July, a team of documentary filmmakers trained kids at a New Orleans summer camp to use the cameras and guided them in making "Public Service Announcements" to inform others about their plight. At the same time, the filmmakers had their own cameras rolling, creating a poignant look at how the city's youth have fared in Katrina's powerful wake.

The film's co-producer is Kerri L. Kennedy, former manager of Mercy Corps' youth programs in New Orleans, which included caregivers to support youth traumatized by the destruction and displacement caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Kennedy's stint managing that program, as well as her previous experience in documentary filmmaking, led her to launch this innovative project. She recently spoke to mercycorps.org about the effort.

Mercy Corps: How did the idea for this film emerge?
Kerri L. Kennedy: It was really inspired by the teachers and the caregivers I met in Louisiana and Mississippi. I saw how much they benefited from actually talking about their Katrina experience in some sort of organized setting. And I saw that the need to help youth recover from that same trauma was overwhelming. Aid organizations like Mercy Corps were working vigorously to help fund and revitalize local youth programs and organizations, but the needs for creative youth programming was simply overwhelming.

MC: So you equipped kids at a summer camp with video cameras and asked them to film their lives. Why?
KLK: I had produced a documentary film on women ex-combatants in East Timor using the same model -- giving the camera to marginalized groups and letting them tell their stories through their own eyes. It was very powerful, and I thought it could work with kids in New Orleans. Anytime you're telling the story, you have lots of filters -- the camera, the filmmaker, the person who writes the script. There's something pure about giving a camera to someone -- especially to a child -- and not directing the process. We don't always hear what children have to say, especially in a post-traumatic environment where the adults are struggling, too, to get their lives together.

MC: What's your sense of how this project affected the kids involved?
KLK: In the film, the students often said they didn't think they needed to talk about their experiences, but by the end they said they really had no idea how much they were mourning the loss of their communities and their homes until they went through this process. I think this experience transformed them even beyond that. One of them now wants to be an actress. Another joked that he wanted to be a soccer player and now wants to be a director. They're all still using the video cameras. We're working on getting them editing software so they can post their own videos on a special part of our website. I think this group will continue to be civically engaged and to speak out, because they realize people are interested in what they have to say.

MC: Who do you want to see this film?
KLK: Educators, middle-school children … you always say you want the general public to see your film, but we really feel this film does a good job of demonstrating that things don't go back to normal after a disaster, and that children are the most vulnerable. Plus I think everyone should know that the effects of this disaster haven't ended.

MC: Right now the film is available on your website, stillweatheringthestorm.com, and The Film Connection. Are you trying to get wider distribution?
KLK: We're applying to film festivals, talking to educators and curriculum companies and exploring TV distribution. We're also setting up a foundation to use this filmmaking model as a way to help middle schoolers in traumatized communities. We have lots of things percolating, and we'll see what sticks.