Still Standing : An EVC Documentary on Hurricane Katrina

Since 1984, the Educational Video Center (EVC) in midtown Manhattan has been inspiring some of the most hard-to-reach youth through its video production workshops in and out of school. EVC students have produced over 100 documentaries on issues such as media and youth culture, gun violence, race relations and environmental pollution. They have been broadcast on the NBC, ABC and PBS television networks and have won more than 100 awards nationally and internationally, including an Emmy.

Still Standing, a just-released EVC film, provides an intimate portrayal of the challenges faced by Katrina survivors as they rebuild their lives in New York City and in New Orleans. It puts a human face to the stories of corruption and incompetence that jeopardize the lives and well being of Katrina survivors six months after the storm.

Daina, a single mother, continues to look for housing, employment, and the chance to reunite with her children. For Bilal, his post-Katrina experiences have turned him into a political activist. Meanwhile, Bilal's mother, once a proud homeowner, finds herself trapped with no home and no insurance. Still Standing reveals not only the ongoing challenges faced by Katrina’s survivors, but also the all-too-familiar issues in urban communities across the country: the neglect of poor and minority neighborhoods, the failure of public assistance to provide long-term solutions, and the grassroots struggle necessary to bring about positive change.

Produced and edited at EVC over the course of the 2005-2006 school year, the film’s six-member student crew met four days a week for four hours a day, sometimes staying late and coming in on the weekends during their most intense stages of production. The crew also traveled to New Orleans and stayed in a former school that now serves as a headquarters for Common Ground, a community-initiated volunteer organization offering assistance, mutual aid and support to Hurricane survivors.

VIEW CLIP (10:15 min) Note: To purchase a copy of the full version film, please go to www.evc.org/screening/cat_comingsoon.html.

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