Join us to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina at two film showings:
A Village Called Versailles
Wednesday, August 25, 7 p.m.
Hodges Library Auditorium
In a New Orleans neighborhood called Versailles, a tight-knit group of Vietnamese Americans overcame obstacles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill. A Village Called Versailles is the empowering story of how the Versailles people, who have already suffered so much in their lifetime, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future. (Sadly, the Vietnamese American community in New Orleans has also recently been impacted by the BP Oil Spill.)
Sponsored by the Asian American Association, Asian Studies Program, International House, and the University Libraries
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
Thursday, August 26, 7 p.m.
Hodges Library Auditorium
Arguably the oldest black neighborhood in America and the birthplace of jazz, Faubourg Treme was home to the largest community of free black people in the Deep South during slavery and a hotbed of political ferment. While the Treme district was damaged when the levees broke, this is not another Katrina documentary. Long before the flood, two native New Orleanians—one black, one white—writer Lolis Eric Elie and filmmaker Dawn Logsdon, began documenting the rich living culture of this historic district. Miraculously, their tapes survived the disaster unscathed. The completed film is a powerful testament to why New Orleans matters, and why this most un-American of American cities must be saved.
Sponsored by Africana Studies, the Commission for Blacks, the Department of History, and the University Libraries
A Village Called Versailles
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans