Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
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		african american, Treme, music, jazz, New Orleans, American History, New Orleans History, creole

Film Overview

Directed By: Dawn Logsdon Written By: Lolis Eric Elie View Official Website	Release Date: 2008-04-25 Running Time: 1:08 Content Rating: GA (General Audience)	DVD Region: All Regions Media Format: NTSC-DVD Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Audio Language(s): English
Genres: Documentary >> African American Heritage :: Music >> Jazz :: Documentary >> History

Synopsis

The true story of the fascinating New Orleans neighborhood that gave birth to jazz and the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Packed with over a century of great New Orleans music, Faubourg Treme is a riveting tale of hope, heartbreak, resiliency and creativity.

In this eye-opening film, newspaper columnist Lolis Eric Elie (now a writer for David Simon's new HBO TV series, Treme) guides us through arguably the oldest and most fascinating African American neighborhood in the United States, centuries of history where black and white, free and enslaved, rich and poor cohabitated, collaborated, and clashed to create much of what defines New Orleans culture up to the present day. Directed by Dawn Logsdon and executive produced by Wynton Marsalis, it is a film of such effortless intimacy, subtle glances and authentic details that only native New Orleanians could have made it.

"Required viewing for anyone prepping for the upcoming HBO drama...Essential history and pleasure."
- New Orleans Times Picayune

"Remarkable interviews and charming interviews...passion for the subject infuses the film."
- Variety

“...Flat out brilliant..the most poignant film ever made about New Orleans...”
-The New Orleans Tribune

"A moving and revelatory film."
- Christian Science Monitor

"... timely and essential...charming yet hard-hitting...”
-The Village Voice

"Documentaries about post-Katrina New Orleans have not been in short supply. But one film stands out for its sensitivity to the city's cultural character, before and after the storm. Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans draws a poignant portrait of what may be the oldest black neighborhood in America... Lolis Eric Elie gently guides viewers through the neighborhood's glorious past and inglorious suffering after Katrina, illuminating customs that distinguish New Orleans from every city on earth."
- Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

In licensing this home DVD, the purchaser agrees to be contractually prohibited from screening it during classroom instruction or as a public performance.

Crew

Director: Dawn Logsdon | bio
Dawn Logsdon makes her feature-length directing debut with Faubourg Tremé. A nationally-acclaimed editor in the Bay Area for many years, Dawn returned to her hometown in 1999, determined to weld together her experience in documentary filmmaking with a quest for understanding New Orleans, its people, and its culture. Dawn previously edited the 2004 Academy Award®-nominated documentary film, The Weather Underground, directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel and the Sundance Award-winning documentary Paragraph 175, directed by two-time Academy Award® winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. She was also the editor of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning program The Castro: Hidden Neighborhoods of San Francisco, which interweaves the many strands of that community's history, culture and politics. Dawn has directed and produced several short documentaries including Tomboy. She is a Soros Open Society Institute Media Fellow and has also been awarded fellowships from the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, and was a California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence. Dawn hold a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley.
Writer: Lolis Eric Elie | bio
Lolis Eric Elie is a New Orleans based writer and filmmaker. Most recently, he joined the staff of the HBO series Treme, premiering April, 2010. His essay, “America’s Greatest Hits,” is included in Best African American Essays: 2009. From 1995 to 2009, he wrote a thrice-weekly column for the New Orleans’ Times-Picayune. A recognized expert on New Orleans food and culture, he is the author of Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country and co-producer and writer of the Smokestack Lightning: A Day in the Life of Barbecue, the documentary based on that book. He is editor of Cornbread Nation 2: The Best of Southern Food Writing. A contributing writer to The Oxford American, his work has appeared in Gourmet, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Bon Appetit, downbeat and the San Francisco Chronicle among other publications. His work is included in the anthologies Best Food Writing: 2008, Streetlights: Illuminating Tales of the Urban Black Experience, and That's What I Like (About the South: and Other New Southern Stories for the Nineties). A former commentator for CBS News Sunday Morning, he has also appeared often on National Public Radio programs. He has an MA from the Columbia School of Journalism in New York and an MFA from the University of Virginia.
Executive Producer: Wynton Marsalis | bio
Wynton Marsalis is a world-renowned jazz recording artist and Pulitzer prize-winning composer. A New Orleans native and jazz history expert, he is currently Artistic Director of Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York.
Producer: Lucie Faulknor | bio
Lucie Faulknor has over 20 years experience in arts administration. She has also worked with Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman and feature/experimental film director Lynn Hershman-Leeson. Lucie produced Ireland's first Women in Film and Video Film Festival in Dublin and developed and produced Artists Up-Close a series of lectures in San Francisco featuring Sydney Pollack, Laurie Anderson, Bobby McFerrin, Wayne Shorter and many others. She was also the producer of several one-woman shows by Irish actor/writer Kate Perry in San Francisco and throughout Ireland. She has managed fundraising campaigns for a number of theater companies, including Marin Theater Company’s season featuring the world premiere of Tennessee Williams' Spring Storm and 5th Province Theatre Company. Lucie has been the publicity director for the Dublin (Ireland) Fringe Theatre Festival, San Francisco’s Working Women Theater Festival, the Irish Arts Foundation, national recording artists 4 Non Blondes and various other independent musicians, artists, actors and filmmakers.
Composer: Derrick Hodge | bio
Derrick Hodge is currently the bass player and a composer with Terrence Blanchard's jazz band. He composed the score for the documentary Who the F@#k is Jackson Pollack and tracks for Spike Lee's Inside Man. He attended Berkelee College of Music and received a bachelor's degree in Music (emphasis on jazz and composition) from Temple University. Hodge has performed and/or recorded with Donald Byrd, Kanye West, Will Smith, Jill Scott, Bootsy Barnes, Q-Tip, Terell Stafford, Mos Def and many others.

Accolades

Awards

"Golden Gate Award" Best Bay Area Documentary
"St. Clair Bourne Award" Best Documentary
Best Documentary, Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival
2010 Best Documentary Film in Popular and American Culture within the  past five

Festivals

San Francisco International Film Festival
Black Harvest International Film Festival, Chicago
Tribeca Film Festival

Customer Reviews

I just saw this movie at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC and it left me and my friend so overwhelmed that we didn't bother going to see any other films that night. The detail that old New Orleans is presented in is amazing. The pacing is excellent, and as a former documentarian I must admit the high level of storytelling and direction left me a bit jealous. I recommend this to all to watch, especially children and teenagers who definitely need this history ingrained into their heads.

My film review...

-Margaret, Capitol Heights, MD., United States

"This documentary really touched my heart and soul. I looked at all those beautiful people and their free spirit filled with the old African heritage and it just brings tears to my eyes of joy and pain." Stephanie, Berkeley, CA

"I just saw the film. I grew up in Treme (on Orleans Avenue) beginning in the early 50's and my family roots goes back much much further than that. This film brought back soooo many wonderful memories. I moved away from New Orleans in 1976 and I return to the city (and my beloved neighborhood) as frequently as I can. However seeing this film was a kind of return that overwhelmed me. I learned so much about it's history that I didn't fully realize. What a blessing to have this film, especially now. I plan to share this with my son, granddaughter and it will be passed on as a testament to how powerful and beautiful a community can be. I feel so blessed to have this history within me. THANK YOU for this film!!"
-Wilbert Alix on 03/26/10

"I"m a big David Simon fan so I ordered this film in anticipation of his new series. I've never seen a documentary that was so moving. Both the young trombonist and the elderly carpenter made me cry. I also loved the young journalist who guides us along. It's like history come to life. The music is AMAZING! Great original score and great music from lots of New Orleans musicians too."

Ronald Levy, New York

"This film should be required viewing for all Americans. It's GREAT! Very entertaining and educational - without beating you over the head with facts. Don't miss it."
- Jenna