An intimate look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the youth of New Orleans.An intimate look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the youth of New Orleans.An intimate look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the youth of New Orleans.
- Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations
Photos
Mike Myers
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaNew Orleans filmmaker Edward Buckles Jr., who was 13 years old during Katrina and its initial aftermath, spent seven years documenting the stories of his peers who survived the storm as children, using his community's tradition of oral storytelling to open a door for healing and to capture the strength and spirit of his city.
Featured review
The long shadows of Katrina on NOLA's African-American community
As "Katrina Babies" (2022 release; 82 min.) opens, it is "2005" and we get aerial footage of New Orleans underwater, and people being rescued and airlifted. In a voice-over writer-director Edward Buckles Jr. Reminisces about getting together with cousins and playing outside in the hood. "Nobody ever asked the children how they were doing, so I am", he laments. We go to "2015" as Buckles starts gathering testimonials from people who were kids back then...
Couple of comments: this is the debut feature length of writer-director Edward Buckles Jr., and what a debut it is. Years in the making, he looks back at the long shadows of Hurricane Katrina, and what devastation it wrecked onto NOLA's African=American community. He reminds us that Katrina caused one of the largest disbursement of African-Americans in this country's history. All of that pales as compared to hearing the heartbreaking testimonials from now adults around 25-30 years old, but just kids back then. While this isn't the first documentary about Katrina ("When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" immediately comes to mind), the footage of how Katrina chewed NOLA and spit it out remains shocking to this day.
"Katrina Babies" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this summer to great positive buzz. There is good reason why this is currently rated 100% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The documentary premiered a few days ago on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and HBO Max, where I caught it. If you need a reminder of the long shadows of Katrina on NOLA's African-American community, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the debut feature length of writer-director Edward Buckles Jr., and what a debut it is. Years in the making, he looks back at the long shadows of Hurricane Katrina, and what devastation it wrecked onto NOLA's African=American community. He reminds us that Katrina caused one of the largest disbursement of African-Americans in this country's history. All of that pales as compared to hearing the heartbreaking testimonials from now adults around 25-30 years old, but just kids back then. While this isn't the first documentary about Katrina ("When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" immediately comes to mind), the footage of how Katrina chewed NOLA and spit it out remains shocking to this day.
"Katrina Babies" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this summer to great positive buzz. There is good reason why this is currently rated 100% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The documentary premiered a few days ago on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and HBO Max, where I caught it. If you need a reminder of the long shadows of Katrina on NOLA's African-American community, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
helpful•24
- paul-allaer
- Aug 27, 2022
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- Hijos del Katrina
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 19 minutes
- Color
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