Film "Hurricane on the Bayou" At Museum Of Science

Film Offers a Music-Driven Ode to the Vital Swamps and Undying Spirit of New Orleans Opening at the Museum of Science and Industry from Jan. 17, 2007, Omnimax film Hurricane on the Bayou carries audiences behind today's news headlines on a journey deep into the soul-stirring heart of Louisiana - before, during and after the unprecedented devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The film will run through Oct. 9, 2007.

Unfolding against the poignant backdrop of the most costly natural disaster in America's history and featuring state-ofthe art CGI special effects depicting Katrina's fury, the film follows a group of four musicians, both legendary and rising, as they uncover the electrifying culture of New Orleans; explore the beautiful, alligator-filled bayous on airboats;recount their personal stories of Katrina; and most of all, bring the focus to the rapidly disappearing wetlands that are New Orleans' first line of defense against deadly storms.

Although these wetlands are vanishing at the astonishing rate of one acre every 30 minutes, the wealth, cultural vitality and future of New Orleans depend on their preservation. Produced and distributed by MacGillivray Freeman Films (Everest, Coral Reef Adventure) with Executive Producer Audubon Nature Institute, presented by The Weather Channel, and narrated by Academy Award®-winning actress Meryl Streep, Hurricane on the Bayou is both a haunting documentary of a Katrina's powerful effects, a profound musical celebration of the city that has been called the "soul of America," and a compelling call to restore New Orleans and protect the vital wetlands from which the city's unique identity first arose. The film opened in select theaters around the world on December 22, 2006.

In the film, narrator and leading lady of the screen Meryl Streep introduces the audience to four charismatic New Orleans musicians: the legendary singer, songwriter, pianist, producer and Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee Allen Toussaint; the impassioned Cajun blues guitarist and wetlands activist Tab Benoit; the 14-year-old fiddling prodigy and teen sensation Amanda Shaw; and the man who discovered Amanda and helped produce her first album, the high-energy zydeco accordion master Chubby Carrier. Through their eyes, the tragedy the city faced during Katrina and its hopes for a revitalized future unfold.

The film begins in the bayou itself, as a family of alligators frolic in the water to the tune of the Cajun classic "Iko Iko." The story then sets off on an historical exploration of how New Orleans rose up hundreds of years ago out of an untamed swampland-and went on to became celebrated around the world as "The Big Easy," a place where a feeling of joyful freedom permeated the music, the food and the city's inimitable talent for turning "good times" into an art form. Here, a spicy gumbo of African, Native American, Cajun, Creole and Southern influences forged a completely unique culture.

Louisiana's coastal location (the state contains an astonishing 48 percent of all the coastal wetlands in the continental U.S.) was both a boon and a bane to the city. New Orleans evolved into the busiest port in the county-but, after engineers diverted the Mississippi River, depleting the wetlands, the city became increasingly vulnerable to the killer winds and rising waters of seasonal hurricanes.

Ultimately, the story builds to the devastating storm that was Katrina and the crisis it brought to New Orleans, causing families to be separated, homes to be lost and, along with Hurricane Rita, more than one hundred square miles of wetlands and marshes to be destroyed by saltwater. Visceral, state-of-the-art CGI effects recreate the fury of the storm.

Then, haunting, never-before-seen aerial footage of the storm's aftermath provides a new perspective on the city that is different from what most people saw on television. Finally, returning to New Orleans in the bittersweet 2006 Mardi Gras season, the film reveals a city in the first throes of recovery-and reunites Allen Toussaint, Amanda Shaw, Chubby Carrier and Marva Wright for a passionate performance of a resonant modern hymn (written by the film's composer Steve Wood) in the oldest Cathedral in North America, New Orleans' elegant St. Louis Cathedral. -- www.msichicago.org