To Be Continued, the Movie.

This weekend I attended a few screenings at Durham's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (the largest such festival in the United States). My interest was primarily due to the large number of Katrina/New Orleans related films. One film 'Tim's Island' was filmed during the hurricane and the week after by a filmmaker who was holed up in a MidCity Warehouse with 15 other people as waters began to rise. My dear friend Maria was one of the 16, and so I mostly went to see her on the big screen. It was a really interesting firsthand look at the storm and its aftermath, as well as the fascinating sociological developments that occur when society's normal boundaries are broken down, and it becomes every man and woman for him or herself.

The standout film, however, was called 'To Be Continued' and looked at the 9 members of the To Be Continued Brass Band, a bunch of 16-21 year olds from N.O. who performed most nights at the corner of Canal and Bourbon. After Katrina, the 9 are scattered across the country but are all consumed with when they will be able to be together again to play their wonderful, joyous music. Their candor, humor, sweetness, and single-minded dedication to being together left me exhilerated and truly, deeply missing my city. After the screening, the band members themselves came from behind the curtain and performed that inimitable brass band music and then led the crowd out to the street for a real New Orleans second line parade. I stood there in the sun of Durham with tears streaming down my face. The city I missed so badly seems to have figured out a way to come find me and lift me up when I needed it most. Please see this film if you get the opportunity.