Return to the Blog »

Jan 22, 2009

81st Annual Academy AwardŽ Nomination for Best Feature Documentary

What an incredible week this has been. It began with the celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's life and legacy in Atlanta, where we screened "Trouble the Water" at the King Center's Freedom Hall, with Kimberly and Scott Roberts and The Free Agents Brass Band of New Orleans.

Then we got word that "Trouble the Water" was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for outstanding documentary. 

On Tuesday, the Obamas moved into the White House (and the Bushes moved out!).

And then this morning's Oscar ® nomination for best documentary feature.

This is our time.  If you haven't seen the movie yet, or have friends and family who are waiting to see it, there is something you can do.

Call your local movie theater and ask them to play "Trouble the Water". Art-house theater managers take note of these requests --they like to know that their local audience is interested in a particular film. We've made it simple, and provided some helpful talking points, just click here to get started:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/s/theatrical

And we are determined that the national and international exposure that this nomination will bring to "Trouble the Water" will also bring desperately needed attention to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and to so many communities throughout the country that are fighting for racial and economic justice.

A year ago this week, "Trouble the Water" premiered at Sundance. Since then, it has been released by Zeitgeist Films, in association with HBO Documentary Films, and has screened in more than 200 theaters nationally. But there are so many communities that have yet to see "Trouble the Water."

Click here to find out how to bring the film to your community:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/page/s/theatrical

We have partnered with scores of community-based and national organizations working for change throughout the country. Follow this link if you would like to screen the film on your campus, in your community center, at your house of worship, or to organize a community event:

http://www.troublethewaterfilm.com/group

Together with Kimberly and Scott Roberts, executive producers Danny Glover and Joslyn Barnes of Louverture Films, co-producer and editor T. Woody Richman and the rest of the talented and dedicated team that has made "Trouble the Water" possible, we thank you for your support.

Our best,

Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
directors and producers of "Trouble the Water"

Permalink

Comments for this entry are disabled.
#1

As a native New Orleanian, I am SO PROUD that this film has received the recognition it so richly deserves. It needs to continue to be seen.  I am overjoyed that it has been nominated and pray that it receives the Oscar for it’s brutally honest depiction of what a natural disaster in American is truly like.  It’s one thing to see it on the news, but to see Katrina and it’s aftermath from people who lived it and didn’t sanitize it, is quite another.  Thank you for this film and it’s truthfully frank reality.  God Bless!!!

Posted by Lisa in Houston TX | 01/22/09, 06:11 PM EDT
#2

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!
You deserve it! The little film that could!
Kimberly is going to the OSCARS!!!  Well all right!

Posted by Sarah Bennett in Bay area | 01/22/09, 06:38 PM EDT
#3

What an exciting recognition for this harrowing yet uplifting documentary!  So many more Americans can now see and know first-hand what happened to the people of New Orleans.  Wishing you best of luck at the Oscars!

Posted by Charles Nicholson in Santa Barbara, CA | 01/29/09, 03:51 PM EDT