BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Pointe à la Hache
NR – 80 min – Tickets $7 – Get tickets online
Sat, May 10: 5:00 p.m.
Tues, May 13: 7:15

Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Nailah Jefferson’s Vanishing Pearls chronicles the untold story of personal and professional devastation in Pointe à la Hache, a close-knit fishing village on the Gulf coast.

The filmmaker delves into the worst environmental disaster in American history just as news cameras leave the scene of the crime. While 49 million barrels of oil settle in the once vibrant coastal waters, a generations-old community of African-American fishermen pledge to fight for justice, accountability and their way of life.

Told from the point of view local oyster fishing businessman Byron Encalade, we learn how a once prolific fishing community has nearly vanished.

The backstory is the decades-long intrigue surrounding legislative and policy-driven machinations over this important, lucrative crossroads between water and land, east and west, fish and fowl.

Cut to present day, with BP plc and the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion which continues to bleed a community through the aftermath of the oil spill, economic fallout, and questionable accountability. Encalade, his small tribe of fisher families, and a community of Louisiana small businesspeople continue to fight through legal channels and other means to find justice.

For New Orleans based producer-director Jefferson, the most profound aspect of this tragic struggle hit home in a remarkably resonant and local way: “I am awestruck by the fact that a community fifty five miles away from my front door step that defines and sustains my identity as a New Orleanian was completely unknown and foreign to me. With films and storytelling, we can shed light in dark places – and those dark places aren’t particularly in farthest reaches or various, exotic ports of call. They are often in our own backyard and next door.”

Fri, April 25: 7:15, 9:15 p.m.
Sat, April 26: 5:15, 7:15, 9:15
Sun, April 27: 5:15, 7:15
Mon, April 28: 5:15, 7:15
Tues, April 29: 5:15, 7:15
Weds, April 30: 5:15, 7:15
Thurs, May 1: 5:15, 7:15

“A must-see documentary…” — Village Voice

“Though dizzyingly informative and diffuse at times, it’s a well-shot portrait that’s at its best when it eschews the facts for the folks.” — L.A. Times

” Even as she provides ample time for both sides to debate the seriousness of the spill and measures to correct the water with chemical dispersants, Jefferson never forgets the core of her film – the black oystermen, and how this debate impacts them. It is here that the narrative is the strongest, and the most potent.” — Indiewire