.

Monique Verdin has a deep love for Lousiana, a place she lived as a child and returned to as an adult. Her Father’s family is descended from the Houma Indians, and after graduating high school, Verdin moves in with her Grandmother in St. Bernard Parish to begin a video document of the “old ways” that the Houma used as a way to live off the land. As she becomes more entrenched in her descendants’ culture, she begins to look into the modern advancements that are threatening to suck her beloved Lousiana dry. As Lousiana is hit by Hurricane Katrina, then Rita and then the BP oil spill, Verdin finds herself becoming an environmental activist, documenting the rapidly disappearing land and the many native people in Southern Louisiana Who are being affected. As Verdin notes in the film, “I can see how the illness of our  land and  waters breeds illness on our people but our love ties us to this place and makes us feel responsible to care for it.”

A truer title for a film could not have been chosen. Verdin documents her adoration and respect for Lousiana and its people, as well as her love for her family who have lived in Louisiana for over a century.  In providing us with a brief history of  the Southern Lousiana native settlers  and her family, and in documenting their struggle to stay close to the land despite the ever-disappearing coastline, she  very eleoquently communicates just why we should care about them too. This would make   an excellent companion piece to 2008 Katrina documentary Trouble the Water, to get a complete picture of just how devastating the hurricane was and how much it  continues to affect Louisiana and its residents. You can tell that Verdin and Director Sharon Linezo  Hong have put their hearts and souls into My Louisiana Love and you’ll be hard-pressed not to fall completely in love with both the Verdin clan and Lousiana as seen through their eyes.

My Lousisiana Love screens as part of the Rising Tides: Environmental Program at imagineNATIVE 2012.

Is My Louisiana Love Essential imagineNATIVE Viewing?

Yes. Anyone who’s ever loved a place as though it were a family member will more than relate to this documentary. It’s a small but extremely affecting film that you may not have another chance to experience on the big screen.

My Lousiana Love Screening Times

• Sunday, October 21,2012 at 3:15pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox

More About My Lousiana Love

My Louisiana Love Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z54wfOo3No

My Lousiana Love Production Gallery

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Kristal Cooper

Editor-in-Chief

Kristal Cooper has been a film buff since the age of two when her parents began sneaking her into the drive-in every weekend. Since then, she’s pursued that passion by working for the Toronto International Film Festival and the Canadian Film Centre as well as spending many a happy hour inside Toronto’s wonderful theatres (she still mourns the loss of The Uptown). She currently acts as Toronto Film Scene’s Editor-in-Chief, is a freelance writer specializing in pop culture and feminist issues, and continues to slog away at her day job as a small cog in the giant machinery of the Toronto film community.

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