Katrinastories

The Church on Dauphine Street

Comments
Email us your comments!

Adrian (formerly of St. Bernard Parish):

Like everyone else from our neighborhood, we lost our home in Arabi in St. Bernard Parish so we can appreciate the emotional impact and the beautiful creativity of your film. We have not seen anything or read anything that even comes close to conveying the complete destruction of a society and the resilience of a people as your film does. I sincerely hope someone will submit “The Church On Dauphine Street” for an Academy Award nomination for an outstanding documentary film. It certainly deserves it.

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Susan, Abita Springs, Louisiana:

I would like to compliment you on the realistic and yet tender manner in which you covered the story. It was indeed genuine. And God bless all the volunteers!

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Nancy from New Orleans:

Thank you very much for this wonderful, moving story. Imagine our surprise when we watched Arthine go to her Katrina damaged house and we realize it is the house we are sitting in!

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Brian Walsh, Head of Acquisitions, RTE Television of Ireland:

It is indeed well made and interesting and gives a very human perspective of a huge tragedy that has almost slipped from the consciousness. (*The Church on Dauphine Street will air on RTE, the PBS of Ireland, in Fall, 2008.)
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Karen in New Orleans:

Thanks for a great film!
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Beth in New Orleans:

I love Father Joe!
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From Joe Unger, Seattle viewer:

I got a chance to see your movie last night. I was sort of expecting documentarian reportage on Katrian itself, but instead it seemed to be much more of a meditation on loss and resurrection, as wonderfully expressed in the context of a mystical (almost animist) Catholicism. It was both elegiac and hopeful, and in my mind it was a unique artistic, cultural, and spiritual statement. It's a beautiful movie -- beautifully shot, edited, loved the music, the people it portrayed -- and I wanted to congratulate you on the achievement. (P.S. I loved the ending -- it's perfect.)

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From Joelle, a resident of Lakeview, New Orleans:

I caught the last half of this program on our local PBS station in New Orleans and I thought that it was just wonderful. It really captured the character and heart of the people in St. Bernard Parish. I wish the entire country would look at it. Thank you so very much. **********
From Melinda, New Orleans:

My partner and I watched your documentary tonight on WYES, our public TV station here in New Orleans. As survivors who have been lucky enough to rebuild and be home two years after Katrina, we have seen so much, listened to so much, and cried so much. There have been so many docs shot here, about here, and yours is the best we've seen. Please tell your crew (krewe), your writers and producers, musicians, the camera folks--the photography is stunning, the music brought us to tears, and you captured the very soul of the church, our city, and our people. Fr. Seelos again worked a miracle by bringing all of you from Seattle to us, and the message you are sending to the world is beautiful. Thank you for your compassion, vision, and humanity.

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From Dana Columbo, a main character in our film, after seeing a sneak preview in New Orleans, who told us in an email:

“You captured the heart of it.”

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From Marty Bisch (aka D.J. Martay; host of Eh Toi on KBCS. FM):

I was in New Orleans for 10 days. The (New Orleans) Jazz Fest was wonderful! So much great music and I was able to reconnect with people I have met there and other parts of the country.
There is so much music and dancing that happens away from the Jazz fest site. I danced many nights at the Rock n' Bowl and in the Quarter.

On Friday, the day before I left. I was at the jazz fest site and was just settled in to hear a band that I like. The heavens opened up and it started to rain. It did not stop for hours. I eventually made it to the "blues tent." Even in there the water started flowing in and I was getting soaked.

I decided to try and get back to my hotel that is in the "Garden District"
There was so much water in the roadway in that area I thought the water would kill the engine of my rental car. I finally found a place of higher ground and parked the car and walked the rest of the way to my hotel. The water was thigh high on me and I waded back to my hotel.
I have never experienced anything like this before.
I asked a "local" if this was unusual. He told me "no." That the pumps cannot handle this much water but when the rain stops it takes about 2 hours for the streets to be clear again.

I felt I had a small experience of what people during Katrina must have felt. I realized just how delicate this city is and how much the lives of the people who live there are controlled by the weather.

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From Denise:

Thank you for the film. I showed it to my Human Relations class at Cascadia Community College and they loved it!