“…Hurricane on the Bayou is a graceful film, beautifully edited and photographed. The film leaves moviegoers with two very important things: hope that the wetlands can be recovered and the spirit-lifting sound of another of Louisiana’s great natural resources, music.”

-- John Wirt, Baton Rouge Advocate

“The…footage—of crumbled homes, a cargo ship hurled onto a freeway, and water-sunken neighborhoods—is familiar yet powerful, and the giant IMAX® screen offers a sense of scale that simply isn’t possible on television…A film free of political fury, but full of activist optimism…"

-- Chuck Wilson, LA Weekly

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Hurricane on the Bayou, a giant screen production featuring one of the most vibrant places in America—the Louisiana bayou and the City of New Orleans—was originally slated as a film about the ongoing erosion of the region’s wetlands ecosystem. This erosion, at the speed of one acre every thirty minutes, is constantly removing the natural buffers that protect the region from hurricanes.

The filmmakers were in the process of simulating the effects of a hypothetical Category 5 hurricane when Hurricane Katrina struck. Beyond tragically illustrating the warnings contained in the film—and causing the filmmakers to return to New Orleans to record Katrina’s aftermath—Katrina became the most devastating and costly natural disaster in US history.

This unprecedented before-during-and-after coverage, in the tremendous scale of IMAX® photography and with an unparalleled, indigenous, musical soundtrack, tells the Louisiana story as no one else has. It reveals individual stories of human experience along with the environmental story of destruction. The wetlands that have been depleted by human intervention form the same ecosystem from which people receive wealth, cultural vitality, and protection from deadly storm surges.  This poignant human-nature relationship is revealed as an intricate tapestry of interdependence.  The film is now playing in theatres worldwide.

Musicians Tell the Story

“Katrina literally re-wrote our script,” Greg MacGillivray noted. The film’s message of wetlands restoration, and its new, terribly real clarion call to rebuild the “soul of America,” now had to be blended together. Greg MacGillivray considered the best, most authentic way to do that. “Musicians have always been the heroes of Louisiana,” he explains, one of the environmental spices that make the area so irresistible." And so the filmmakers chose to follow some of Louisiana’s most celebrated musicians through their dramatic experiences with the hurricane, and with the place they call home.

Allen Toussaint Rock ‘n roll Hall-of-Famer and world-famous jazz pianist	Tab Benoit Cajun rock ‘n blues guitarist	Marva Wright Gospel legend (featured artist)	Chubby Carrier Zydeco accordion master	Amanda Shaw 14-year-old Cajun fiddler

Greg MacGillivray: “We set out originally to tell the story of a future, hypothetical hurricane and how the rapid erosion of the wetlands left New Orleans more vulnerable to flooding—but when Katrina struck in the middle of doing that, we were no longer filming what might happen, we were suddenly more like news reporters filming what did happen. We had to completely rethink the film, which evolved in to a much broader and more deeply emotional story than we ever imagined. We realized we had a unique ability to capture…this story in a way that captures the humanity of it, the essential role of the wetlands environment and the undeniable, musical magic of the city all at once. Hurricane on the Bayou is not just the moving story of how several remarkable musicians survived Katrina and are facing the future, nor is it just the story of how destruction of the wetlands is wreaking devastation for both humans and animals. I think it is really about the tremendous value of New Orleans and Louisiana to our nation. I hope we reveal what a treasure this city is—a wild swampland that turned into a fantastic center for music, food and the enjoyment of life itself. To lose New Orleans would be an unthinkable tragedy.”

Shooting in an Emergency

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It was a difficult decision for the filmmakers to send a crew back to New Orleans immediately after Katrina struck. They would have to scramble for water, fuel, boats, helicopters, assistants, housing, and food; they would have to fight for permission to enter the cut-off city, and to compete for air space with news and military helicopters.

“It was as if we had suddenly become war journalists,” says screenwriter and Louisiana filmmaker Glen Pitre. “There were times when we could barely shoot because there were tears streaming down our faces.”

The crew became more than documentarians; they rescued people and freed animals, offered supplies to those in need, and ferried information. They dodged bullets and fires—and they captured incomparable, emotionally-charged footage.