Blowin' in the Wind

What does a filmmaker do when the most devastating hurricane in American history is heading straight for the set? Keep rolling.

Related Content

• 60 Minutes in Space: Museum of Nature andScience has an out-of-this-world new series
  January 25, 2012
• John Bonath on A Strange Beauty at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
  October 25, 2011
• Flying Monsters looms large at the IMAX 3-D Theater: A Q&A with DMNS curator Joe Sertich
  January 27, 2012
• Noah Van Sciver Visits the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, a web comic
  January 9, 2012
• The Dirty Lookers
  August 25, 2011

More About

• Greg MacGillivray
• Tab Benoit
• Amanda Shaw
• Hurricane Katrina
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

"We set out originally to tell the story of a future, hypothetical hurricane and how the rapid erosion of the wetlands left New Orleans more vulnerable to flooding," says Hurricane on the Bayou director Greg MacGillivray. "But when Katrina struck in the middle of that, we were no longer filming what might happen; we were suddenly more like news reporters filming what did happen. We had to completely rethink the film, which evolved into a much broader and more deeply emotional story than we ever imagined."

That story is recounted in the movie through the reflections and music of some of the Big Easy's most famous musicians, including Allen Toussaint, Tab Benoit, Amanda Shaw and Chubby Carrier. They speak of the culture of New Orleans and ruminate on the destruction caused by Katrina while exploring the region's cypress-studded bayous on bright-yellow fan-powered airboats. And since Katrina didn't stop the wetland erosion, Hurricane is an account not just of a disaster that can and did happen, but of one that's happening still — at a rate of one acre lost every thirty minutes.

Hurricane on the Bayou opens today on the IMAX screen at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Boulevard, and runs daily through June 21. Visit www.dmns.org or call 303-322-7009 for showtimes and prices.
March 16-Oct. 4, 2007