A Bridge Life: Finding Our Way Home

Dear friends,

It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the official Website for our feature-length documentary entitled A Bridge Life: Finding Our Way Home From Katrina. This film has been nearly three years in the making and attempts to chronicle one small heartfelt story out of thousands that came out of that terrible storm which devastated the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

When I started out on this journey, I, like many others, wanted to help Katrina survivors any way I could, even if it meant just handing out water bottles and greeting them with a smile. But what eventually transpired in those critical days after the catastrophe evolved into a much richer experience for everyone involved and a tale that needed to be told. Despite losing everything, many evacuees still had faith, not necessarily in our government, but in God and the common man. Much of that feeling was because of the overwhelming volunteer response that came from Houstonians and countless others who flew in from around the country, wanting to ease their burdens and share their pain. In the midst of this American crisis, there was, for a brief moment, a palpable sense of community that coursed through the Houston Astrodome and surrounding venues that sheltered thousands of Louisiana’s exhausted and stunned residents. In a way, Katrina’s terrible wrath brought out the best in humanity. And this feeling that “we’re all in this together” is what motivated us to lend a hand. It also spurred us to capture this communal spirit as filmmakers through the story of Dan Sheffer, a Good Samaritan from South Florida who traveled to Houston and flew seven evacuees back to the Sunshine State to help them get back on their feet with temporary jobs and a place to lay their heads–in essence, to provide them with “a bridge life.”

Aside from issuing the usual news updates, screening times and venues, press clippings and reviews of A Bridge Life as well as what we hope will be regular blog postings from the creative team, this Website will also provide supplemental material intended to enhance your knowledge of the story and the documentary’s participants outside of the film itself. Such material may include transcripts of interviews not featured in A Bridge Life, photo essays and additional information to keep viewers abreast not only with what’s going on with some of the evacuees, but also with the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. I would further like to encourage visitors to check out our Links section for valuable resources pertaining to New Orleans’ revival post-Katrina, like Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” Foundation for instance.

I’m very very proud of the work my team has put into A Bridge Life: Finding Our Way Home From Katrina. But we still have a ways to go in terms of its completion. Therefore I would like to request your help. You’ll notice a menu option that says, “See Your Name” as well as a donate button on the right-hand side. This film has been funded primarily by loans and small donations from a variety of family members and supporters, which is why we’re asking you to make a contribution to assist us in making up the difference. Aside from helping us pay for a final audio mix and color correction, the majority of you’re donation, however small, will go towards covering the hefty cost of licensing fees from various news sources and archival houses. I can’t tell you how expensive such fees can get. In return for your contribution however, we’re excited to offer a unique opportunity–the chance to have your names listed in the credits and join other backers in inspiring people to make a difference in each other’s lives by helping tell Dan and his group’s amazing story. Even $5 will get us that much closer to our goal, so please, donate whatever you can.

Lastly, it’s my aim that this Website will eventually serve as the launch pad for a series of A Bridge Life films, each of which will attempt to chronicle the intimate stories of survivors going about the difficult task of rebuilding after major disasters. This is a long-term prospect but one that will again seek to stress the life-affirming idea that “we’re all in this together.”

Sincerely,

Joshua Grossberg

Director