The Sound After The Storm is a documentary film by Sven O. Hill & Patrik Soergel & Ryan Fenson-Hood.
Three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is part ghost town and part developing world country. Well known musicians Lillian Boutté, Dr. Michael White and photographer Armand “Sheik” Richardson use music as a philosophy and tool to save themselves and their abandoned, crumbling city.
‘The Sound After The Storm’ tells a story in which this “music born from hardship” is reborn in response to Katrina´s devastation.
With her twenty-fifth year living in Germany, the native New Orleanean Singer Lillian Boutté, has more than earned the title: Jazz Ambassador of New Orleans, an honor held previously only by Louis Armstrong. Boutté packs clubs and stadiums across the US and Europe to share her culture’s easy warmth and a message: “The levee problem remains and each August is another hurricane Katrina just waiting to happen!”
The spirit of the ’20’s jazz greats is alive and well in a crowded club filled with the sounds of Dr. Michael White’s clarinet. White possessed one of America’s most rare collections of jazz artifacts including original sheet music written in the hand of Jelly Roll Morton and a mouth piece blown many a night by Sidney Bechet. This collection now lies in moldy heaps on the floor of White’s home, yards from a major levee breach.
The energetic Armand “Sheik” Richardson, part photographer, part activist, part whirlwind, shoots thousands of photos of his city, “to preserve what’s left of New Orleans for future generations.”
And a new generation of musicians is born with “The Next Generation Brass Band” a group of young new Orleaneans brought to the music by circumstances of the Hurricane itself.
As these native new Orleaneans traverse three uncertain post-Katrina years, their paths cross in The Sound After the Storm, and show that in tough times, the music lives.
Hurricane Katrina was a big event in the media for a few months, and then it was over. Life outside New Orleans went on as usual and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” was played no less lightheartedly on the radio than it had been before the storm.
We found that neither the character and uniqueness of New Orleans culture, nor the extent to which it is being lost are widely understood. Our documentary, therefore, like our characters’ lives and music, is devoted to bringing the spirit of the city to audiences as well as inspiring more involvement in its recovery and preservation. The Directors
The Sound After The Storm will be shown at the MADEIRADIG Festival 2010. To get an idea what goes on there and why it is so unique have a look at the last year Pictures & Comments, watch the documentary or visit the Website.
________________________________________________________________
THE MADEIRADIG FESTIVAL 2010
03-06.12.2010 | Madeira Island / Portugal
with Grischa Lichtenberger, The Beautiful Schizophonic, Peter “PITA” Rehberg, Stephan Mathieu & Caro Mikalef, Janek Schaefer, Simon Whetham & Hugo Olim, Ben Frost, Peter Broderick, Max Tundra uvm.
www.madeiradig.net | http://thesoundafterthestorm.com
