A LOUD COLOR
(Brent Joseph I 06:35 I Documentary)

By Rooftop Films on 08/29/2008

Self-perception is crucial to 72-year-old Louis Harding, rebuilding the community center he opened one month before Hurricane Katrina. He discusses the importance of history, heroes and self-esteem for African-Americans.

New Orleans native and filmmaker Brent Joseph shows us an touching and intimate portrait of
Louis Harding, a community leader who's years of hard work to benefit the youth of New Orleans was washed away by hurricane Katrina. Despite the massive set back, Louis keeps moving forward and believes that making his dream a reality is more important now than ever before.

We were able to ask Brent Joseph a few questions about his fascinating portrait of Louis Harding.

Q & A

RT: Tell us a little bit about the film!

BJ: A Loud Color is about Louis Harding, a 74-year-old life long resident of New Orleans who mowed grass for 30 years and saved up his money with the dream of opening a community center one day. He lives in the Central City neighborhood which has one of the highest crime rates in the city so Louis really wanted to do something to educate youth and try to pull them out of the cycle of poverty and violence that has plagued the area for so long. He finally got his center running in the summer of 2005, then Katrina hit and the center was destroyed a month later. For the film, Louis took me on a tour of the center and talked about African-American history in New Orleans and why he won't give up on his dream of running a community center.

RT: What was your inspiration for the film and how did you find out about Louis?

BJ: Well, I was already working on one short documentary that I shot in the immediate aftermath of the storm, called Holdout. It was about my neighbor who never left his house because he had 18 pets. Then in early 2006 I was contacted by Tim Ryan of the non-profit New Orleans Video Access Center. He was tired of hearing the mainstream media portray NOLA as a lost cause. He wanted several local filmmakers to make shorts that highlighted the determination of residents to rebuild. Anyone who has spent a lot of time in the area knows that New Orleans defies all logic. The odds may be against the city, but that doesn't mean that it won't find it's own meandering way to survive. With that in mind I drove back to the city from my new home in Austin looking for a story. How I found Louis is pretty random. I was literally crossing the state line when I heard a car honk. It was an old friend Akeem Khalif. I had not seen him in years. We pulled over on the side of the road and caught up. Akeem told me he had bought a home in the Lower 9th Ward a month before Katrina and it was destroyed before he even moved in. It was awful. I told him about the project I was working on and he suggested that I contact his friend Louis Harding. When I got to the city I arranged to met Louis at his community center and the second I drove up and saw the building I knew that he had a story that had to be told.

RT: What's Louis up to now? Has he made much improvement/progress to the Community Center?

BJ: I actually just did an update on Louis as a bonus feature for the 8th Annual Media That Matters DVD Compilation. Louis has continued to have even more setbacks, but he now as a very sharp partner who I think is really going to make things happen. They have a new vision and I just made a commercial to help them gain more visibility. I got DJ Jubilee who is a pioneer of Bounce Rap to be the spokesman. Jubilee is a Special Ed teacher by day, volunteer champion coach in the afternoon and DJ by night. He is a local legend and has been ripped off several times by more famous rappers from the city. It's turns out that he coaches across the street from where Louis' center used to be, so Louis walked over and asked him if he wanted to get involved. He's an amazing guy and I feel really lucky to have been able to meet him.

RT: What is your current/next project?

BJ: Right now I am splitting my time between writing a screenplay and working for Monofonus Press, a new record label and publishing press in Austin. They put out combination short stories and records with all of the artwork made by local painters. I'm making short documentaries, music videos and promos for them which I will start posting to their website, you tube and Vimeo in the next few weeks. Other than that I'm just waiting for this miserable Texas heat to be over with.

By the way, my other short that I mentioned earlier, Holdout, was just released on the NewFest Compilation DVD by Indiepix Films Ok, enough of the self-promotion.

RT: Do you have any questions for the viewers? They'll post comments.

BJ: Questions Question. hmmm. I'd like to know how many people out there know about DJ Jubilee. He's an unsung hero who has been ripped off by many bigger name NOLA rappers. He plays everything from project parties to Quintron and Miss Pussycat shows to Tulane frat parties all while juggling his teaching and coaching obligations. If your readers haven't heard of him check him out.

To make donations to the Washington Ave. Community Center, and to find out more information on how you can help, please visit the film's official website, www.aloudcolor.com