Film phase:Completed
SYNOPSIS
When the graves of former slaves are bulldozed in Mississippi, a native son returns to protect the community they settled — a place now threatened by urban sprawl, hurricanes and an unprecedented manmade disaster.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Leah Mahan’s work has been nominated by the Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and Leah was honored with a fellowship at the Sundance Institute Documentary Editing and Story Lab. Leah’s film Sweet Old Song (2002) was featured on the PBS series P.O.V. and was chosen by film critic Roger Ebert for his Overlooked Film Festival.
NOW PLAYING
Come Hell or High Water won the Audience Award for Documentary Feature when it premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival in 2013, and was featured at Power Shift, a national gathering of 8,000 youth leaders in Pittsburgh. In March 2014, the film screened to a packed theater with special guests at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. The April 2014 broadcast was the culmination of the WORLD Channel’s April exploration of “the resiliency of people and the planet.” While producing the film, Leah worked with Derrick Evans and the Gulf Coast Fund to create Bridge the Gulf, which lifts up the voices of communities working towards justice and sustainability. Come Hell or High Water is part of Reel Power, a collaborative of award-winning documentaries “from the frontline of our energy future.” The film is part of American Film Showcase, a cultural diplomacy program of the U.S. State Department.