“New Orleans breathes Africa” it once said in the prized documentation “Faubourg Tremé” by Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie. Tremé is a district of New Orleans or, more precisely: the oldest Afro-American district in the United States. This is the birthplace of jazz, the place where the first Afro-American daily newspaper was published, where civil rights movements were brought to life. “Faubourg Tremé” tells the story of this neighbourhood. It was partially produced before the catastrophic damage caused to both this city and human mind by hurricane Katrina in 2005. The premier was celebrated at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in 2008. The special thing about this documentation is that it was produced by two locals who take us on a tour of both the present and the past to which they are both intimately connected. The encounters with musicians, poets and historians create a complex picture of the present which elucidates the country’s contrasts and the desperation and hope, the self-confidence and resistance of the USA’s Afro-American population which have always found their expression. The cultural scientist and established expert Berndt Ostendorf will introduce this film evening. His volume of essays about New Orleans with the subtitle “Creolization and all that Jazz” is not the only proof of his knowledge but also evidence of his fascination with this city’s rich cultural tradition.
