Logline

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is part ghost town and part third world country. Well known musicians Lillian Boutté, Dr. Michael White, the young group ‘The Next Generation Brass Band’ and photographer Armand ‘Sheik’ Richardson use music as a philosophy and tool to save themselves and their abandoned, crumbling city. ‘The Sound After The Storm’ tells a story in which this “music born from slavery” is reborn in response to Katrina´s devastation.

Synopsis

With her twenty-fifth year living in Germany, the native New Orleanean Singer Lillian Boutté, has more than earned the title: Jazz Ambassador of New Orleans, an honor held previously only by Louis Armstrong. Boutté packs clubs and stadiums across the US and Europe to share her culture's easy warmth and a message: "The levee problem remains and each August is another hurricane Katrina just waiting to happen!" 
The spirit of the '20's jazz greats is alive and well in a crowded club filled with the sounds of Dr. Michael White’s clarinet. White possessed one of America’s most rare collections of jazz artifacts including original sheet music written in the hand of Jelly Roll Morton and a mouth piece blown many a night by Sidney Bechet. This collection now lies in moldy heaps on the floor of White's home, yards from a major levee breach. 
The energetic Armand “Sheik” Richardson, part photographer, part activist, part whirlwind, shoots thousands of  photos of his city, “to preserve what’s left of New Orleans for future generations.”  And a new generation of musicians is born with "The Next Generation Brass Band" a group of young new Orleaneans brought to the music by circumstances of the Hurricane itself. 
As these native new Orleaneans traverse three uncertain post-Katrina years, their paths cross in The Sound After the Storm, and show that in tough times, the music lives. 

Directors statement

New Orleans became front page news in media worldwide during the time of hurricane Katrina, but unfortunately, since then the city has been largely ignored.  Surprisingly, much of the world is now unaware that New Orleans is facing possible extinction within 10 years and that it's people are still in danger and far from recovery.  While the rest of the world seems unaware of the ongoing struggles in New Orleans, we found that people everywhere are still very interested in the city's music.  Therefore, we have chosen to relate our story through the music - which Sheik, one of the film’s main characters says, "is how you've known us through the years, and once we're not here anymore, it's what you'll remember us by."  We hope that the universality of music and its ability to transmit emotion will help kindle much needed understanding and empathy in audiences for the people struggling in New Orleans.  Our main characters refer to the New Orleans Jazz funeral when asked to relate their struggles to music because of it's message of transformation from pain to joy and death to rebirth.  Therefore, naturally the music played by our characters makes up the backbone of our story. 

Credit/Team

production	Ventura Film
co-production	RSI-Radiotelevisione svizzera HillFilm Dirk Manthey Film
direction	Patrik Soergel Ryan Fenson-Hood Sven O. Hill
original idea	Patrik Soergel
cinematography	Sven O. Hill
additional camera	Mauro Boscarato Ryan Fenson-Hood Patrik Soergel
sound recording	Jeff Colon Enos Barloggio Patrik Soergel
edit	Ryan Fenson-Hood Patrik Soergel
music	Dr. Michael White Lilian Boutté The Next Generation Brass Band
sound mix	Thomas Knop
color correction	Robin Schmude
producers	Andres Pfaeffli Elda Guidinetti
co-producers	Sven O. Hill Dirk Manthey
dramaturgial advisor	Stephanie Rieß
production manager	Nicola Bernasconi
commissioning editor RSI	Luisella Realini
produced with the support of	Repubblica e Cantone Ticino FilmPlus della Svizzera italiana Filmstiftung NRW Kulturelle Filmförderung Schleswig-Holstein