Bury the Hatchet (film)

Bury the Hatchet
Directed by Aaron Walker
Produced by George Ingmire
Julie Gustafson
Written by Aaron Walker
Music by The Wild Tchoupitoulas Monk Boudreaux Preservation Hall Jazz Band Dirty Dozen Brass Band Baby Dodds Trio George Winston Jimmy Scott Arvo Pärt Donald Harrison Jr.
Cinematography Aaron Walker
Edited by Aaron Walker Tim Watson Amy Sanderson Joe Bini
Production
company
Cine-Marais
Altaire Productions
Distributed by 7th Art Releasing
Running time
 86 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Bury the Hatchet is a documentary film directed by Aaron Walker. The film is a portrait of the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans.

Synopsis

Bury the Hatchet is a portrait of three Mardi Gras Indian Big Chiefs of New Orleans, descendants of runaway slaves taken in by the Native Americans of the Louisiana bayous. Once plagued by intertribal violence, today these African-American tribes take to the backstreets of New Orleans on Mardi Gras, dressed in elaborate Native American influenced costumes that they sew over the course of the year. When tribes meet instead of attacking each other with hatchets and knives, they battle over which Chief has the prettiest suit.

The film follows Big Chiefs Alfred Doucette, Victor Harris and Monk Boudreaux over the course of five years, both pre and post Hurricane Katrina, and is an exploration of their art and philosophies, as well as their struggles within their communities: harassment by the police, violence amongst themselves, gentrification of their neighborhoods, uninterested youth, old age and natural disaster.

Filmmaker Aaron Walker gained intimate entry into this often hidden New Orleans experience and discovered not only a fascinating and beautiful culture but endearing characters and a truly dramatic narrative. The film is the story of the unique and endangered culture of New Orleans they represent—as bearers of tradition, artists, musicians, and warriors who have laid down their weapons, but not their determination to survive as a people.

With a celebratory soundtrack of New Orleans music and additional scoring by pianist George Winston, the film is an intimate entry into this often hidden New Orleans experience.

Festivals

A selection of the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in 2011,[1] the film won the Best Louisiana Feature Award at the New Orleans Film festival[2] and won the Grand Prize and Intangible Culture Award at the Royal Anthropological Institute Festival of Ethnographic Film in Leeds, England.[3] The film has screened at numerous other festivals, including the Florida Film Festival[4] and the Margaret Mead Film Festival.[5]

References

  1. ↑ [HotDocs Film Festival Program
  2. ↑ Times Picayune: Mardi Gras Indian doc 'Bury the Hatchet' among 2010 New Orleans Film Festival award winners
  3. ↑ RAI Film Festival 2009
  4. ↑ [Florida Film Festival Program Guide
  5. ↑ [Margaret Mead Film Festival Program Archived March 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
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