DVD Cover Art

... about "American Gumbo*"...

“American Gumbo was an idea flushed out of the need to make a project that focused on New Orleans and it's people. As a filmmaker in NOLA (New Orleans, LA), I feel that our independent cinema is not what it should be. We tend to focus on everything around us, when the gem IS us. Our culture. I wrote a film "i am nola' in the summer of 2008 with Dennis Nguyen, and tried to push it to get made. Because of the nature of financing in New Orleans, it was not going to get made unless I found a way to do it myself, which was an option But because I wanted New Orleans to be seen in the most beautiful light possible, I chose not to shoot in myself and end up with something that wasn't excellent. In February of 2010, during Mardi Gras, my car broke down, and I was forced to ride the public transit to and from work. The rides, the loss of pride, and the time alone forced me to think, and out of this thinking came 'American Gumbo*", a film of people talking about the city, sort of a pre 'i am nola'. The idea was to put friends in a room and just have them talk, and the basis of their stories would create the narrative. So, on May 12th, they sat down and talked, and what they made was an America Gumbo*.”