Screening of "New Orleans Rising"

“New Orleans Rising,” a CNN Hurricane Katrina-anniversary documentary reported by Soledad O’Brien, will screen Monday night (August 2) at 7 in the Southern University at New Orleans gym, 6400 Press Street.

The local screening is free and open to the public, and will be preceded by a 6:30 p.m. reception. A panel discussion about the film will follow the screening.

Expected panelists are “Treme” actor/recovery activist Wendell Pierce (who is interviewed in the film); Paul R. Taylor Jr., managing member of SRP Development; New Orleans City Council member Cynthia Hedge-Morrell; Nick Harris, assistant vice president of community and economic development at Dillard University; Victor Ukpolo, chancellor, Southern University at New Orleans; and Gretchen Bradford – community organizer.

“New Orleans Rising" is  reported by CNN’s ‘In America’ anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien. The documentary is an in-depth look at how five years after the hurricane, even a united and highly successful middle-class community like Pontchartrain Park struggles to rebuild.

Following the big storm, Pontchartrain Park saw one of the lowest rates of returning homeowners in New Orleans. Though plenty mad and worried, the people of the neighborhood eventually come together in their commitment to overcome the catastrophe of the storm, and brace themselves for the aftermath of a new enemy – the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The documentary will air on the network at 7 p.m. August 21.

SOURCE  http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2010/07/local_free_screening_of_soleda.html