9th Ward documentary to be released on Katrina anniversary

New Orleans CityBusiness -- The Business Newspaper of Metropolitan New Orleans:

"On Monday, after more than 11 months, Rue and his collaborator Gabriel Dayan finished filming. The more than 250 hours of footage they shot will help tell the tragic tale of the Ninth Ward before and after Hurricane Katrina and how the city, state and federal government have struggled to piece together a city battered by the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

The film, “New Orleans Story,” is tentatively scheduled for an Aug. 29 theater release, coinciding with the anniversary of Katrina.

. . . . . .

Rue spent days in the impoverished neighborhood filming residents and learning about their lives, culture and concerns.

“There were a lot of matriarchal figures, ladies who helped raise the neighborhood children down the street. They were people proud of their homeownership who worked hard for their homes and had lived there for a long time.

“They were concerned about the youth falling into despair and hopelessness because they were seeing a lot of kids going into drugs and a life of crime. They were used to murders in their neighborhoods.

“But there was a tremendous feel that the government didn’t care, the mayor didn’t care, politicians as a whole were corrupt, and that the affluent African-American people as well as Caucasians didn’t care about them.”"