Kamp Katrina

USA / 2007 / David Redmon & Ashley Sabin / 50 and 74 mins

"Kamp Katrina captures an exceptionally pathos-rich tale. The personal dramas and tense struggles of the residents are moving, but the hostility they face from the powers-that-be is saddening in its bureaucratic predictability." Jason Ferguson, Orlando Weekly

Kamp Katrina is a verite documentary set in post-Katrina New Orleans (yet, it is not a Hurricane Katrina film). The film follows Ms. Pearl, a 56 year old Upper 9th Ward resident and Native American, over the course of 6 months. The story begins one month after Hurricane Katrina when Ms. Pearl rides her bicycle to a temporary community space in Washington Square Park. An organizer urges people to open their homes to individuals displaced by the hurricane. Ms. Pearl enthusiastically offers her backyard and ten people immediately move into "Kamp Katrina," their self-made tent community. Confronted with limited resources, no housing and no governmental support, Ms. Pearl and her husband attempt to create a community for the residents of Kamp Katrina while they work to rebuild homes and businesses destroyed by the storm. Kamp residents Kelley and Doug Baker become central characters as they face the difficulties of preparing for the birth of their third child. As personal problems are exacerbated by the absence of basic infrastructure, Ms. Pearl is forced to wear as many hats as she does costumes. She ends up playing the role of bouncer, psychologist, nurse, mother, domestic abuse counselor, housing advocate, and even tourist in her beloved city.