''Trouble the Water'' is a 2008

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

produced and directed by

Tia Lessin Tia Lessin is an American documentary filmmaker. Lessin has produced and directed documentaries and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. She co-directed the film '' The Ja ...

and Carl Deal. The film portrays a young couple surviving

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, leading them to face their own troubled past during the storm's aftermath, in a community abandoned long before the hurricane hit. It features music by

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

Mary Mary Mary Mary is a female American urban contemporary gospel duo composed of sisters Erica Atkins-Campbell (born April 29, 1972) and Trecina Atkins-Campbell (born May 1, 1974). Formed in 1998, Mary Mary was launched into mainstream recognition fo ...

, Citizen Cope,

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

and Blackkoldmadina. ''Trouble the Water'' is distributed by

Zeitgeist Films Zeitgeist Films is a New York-based distribution company founded in 1988 which acquires and distributes films from the U.S. and around the world. In 2017, Zeitgeist entered into a multi-year strategic alliance with film distributor Kino Lorber. ...

and premiered in theaters in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on August 22, 2008, followed by a national release.

Synopsis

''Trouble the Water'' opens the day the filmmakers meet 24-year-old aspiring rap artist Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott at a Red Cross shelter in central Louisiana, then flashes back two weeks, with Kimberly turning her new video camera on herself and her neighbors trapped in their Ninth Ward attic as the storm rages, the levees fail and the flood waters rise. Weaving 15 minutes of Roberts' ground zero footage shot the day before and the morning of the storm, with archival news segments, other home video, and verité footage they filmed over two years, director/producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal document the journey of a young couple living on the margins who survive the storm and seize a chance for a new beginning. ''Trouble the Water'' explores issues of race, class, and the relationship of government to its citizens, issues that continue to haunt America, years after the levees failed in New Orleans.

Critical reception

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.

Subtitles

''Trouble the Water'' was presented in France, with French subtitles translated by Celine Prost.

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for best documentary feature in 2009 and an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for best informational program in 2010. It won the Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the

2008 Sundance Film Festival The 2008 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 17, 2008 to January 27 in Park City, Utah. It was the 24th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was ''In Bruges'' and the closing night film was '' CSNY Déjà Vu''. Films ...

as well as the Grand Jury Award, The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights, and the Working Films Award at the 2008 Full Frame Documentary Festival, and the Special Jury Prize at the 2008 AFI/Silverdocs Festival. The film won the IFC Gotham Award for best documentary and the Council on Foundation's Henry Hampton Award. It has also been nominated for an NAACP Image award for outstanding documentary and a Producers Guild of America award. Named best documentary of 2008 by the African-American Film Critics Association and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and came in 2nd place for the National Film Critics Circle Award.

List of Awards

* 2009 Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature * 2009 Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary * 2009 NAACP Image Award Nominee, Outstanding Documentary * 2009 Producers Guild of America For Feature Documentary (Nominated) * 2008 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize * 2008 Full Frame Documentary Festival Grand Jury Prize * 2008 AFI/Silverdocs Special Jury Prize * 2008 Council On Foundations Henry Hampton Award for Excellence In Film And Digital Media * 2008 Working Films Award * 2008 Kathleen Bryan Human Rights Award * 2010 Harry Chapin Media Award * Official Selection, 2008

New Directors/New Films Festival The New Directors/New Films Festival is an annual film festival held in New York City, and organized jointly by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Film at Lincoln Center, previously known as the Film Society o ...

(Museum of Modern Art And Film Society of Lincoln Center)

References

External links

*
''Trouble the Water''
at Zeitgeist Films * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trouble The Water 2008 films 2008 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about New Orleans History of New Orleans Documentary films about Hurricane Katrina American independent films Sundance Film Festival award winners Lessin and Deal productions 2000s English-language films 2000s American films