A Requiem for New Orleans – ‘Shake The Devil Off’

This not to be missed screening of Peter Entell’s film, Shake the Devil Off at Input 2008 tells the moving story of  St. Augustine Church in the wake of the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. St Augustine is a historic church reknowned as ‘the place where, for the first time, slaves, freed black people and whites sat side by side on the pews, singing to God.’

Six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, the axe has just fallen at St. Augustine Church :  the archdiocese is about to close the parish and send Father LeDoux away.  The church is renowned as the birthplace of jazz and gospel, and a powerful reminder of the history of slavery.  The parishioners join forces with local musicians to resist.  Their spiritual guide, Father LeDoux, encourages them to pray and negotiate.  But they soon realize they must take matters into their own hands … the time has come to go on the offensive.  Shake the Devil Off  is a contemporary retelling of the story of Easter, in a city where politics, culture and religion collide and where the plan of God remains impenetrable.

The central character is FATHER JEROME LEDOUX, the priest of St. Augustine Church and a pillar of strength in the Tremé neighbourhood of New Orleans where the church is located.  The seventy-six year old pastor has been preaching and singing there for more than fifteen years. He has become internationally known.  People from France, Germany and Switzerland come to his mass on Sundays and he speaks to them in their native languages.

‘Shake The Devil Off’ is scheduled to screen at Input 2008 on May 9th.

 

 

 

Input 2008 confirms Belafonte!

The actor, crooner and humanitarian activist Harry Belafonte has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the launch of the Human Bondage (Slavery) Project at Input 2008.

Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York and first made his “living” by busking as a New York club singer with the likes of Charlie Parker in the 40’s and 50’s – to pay for his acting classes. He is a prolific producer of music (best known for singing Banana Boat Song aka Day-O), has starred in a number of films and to this day remains a vociferous and fearless civil and human rights activist.

According to Wikipedia, in 2002 he earned the umbrage of the Bush Administration when he quoted Malcolm X to characterise former and current secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice, saying:

There is an old saying, in the days of slavery. There were those slaves who lived on the plantation, and there were those slaves who lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master, do exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. That gave you privilege. Colin Powell is committed to come into the house of the master, as long as he would serve the master, according to the master’s purpose. And when Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture. And you don’t hear much from those who live in the pasture.

In 2006 Belafonte led a delegation of activists that included actor Danny Glover and Cornel West to a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, where he came out in strong support of Chavez and the Venezuelan struggle.

Belafonte has earned the respect of human rights workers and activists the world over for his consistent condemnation of oppression and injustice globally.

Next month he visits South Africa to speak at the Human Bondage (Slavery) Project being launched at Input 2008.