About this project

About this Project:
We will film and produce a 30-minute documentary,Oil & Water , which will present the stories of some of those most affected by the Gulf oil leak: the Cajun community.

The Cajuns, an insulated and embattled people, have lived and fished Louisiana’s coastal waters for centuries, and the Gulf has provided more than just an income, it has sustained a way of life. Yet when the oil industry arrived in the 1930s, the Cajuns welcomed it because oil companies brought better-paying jobs. The two industries have co-existed for nearly 80 years, but now the BP oil spill is killing fish, poisoning the environment and threatens to expel a culture that neither hurricanes nor the government could destroy. Oil & Water will give voice to those trapped in this purgatory of the unknown, and will ask why many Cajuns still support the oil industry and oppose any drilling moratoriums, what makes the Acadian culture so unique and lasting despite numerous hardships, and, the biggest question of all: can the Cajuns survive?

Here are some of those “Oil & Water” will follow:

George and Carol Terrebonne, great grandparents in their 60s, sit in a small quiet, tin and wood office that serves as the brain center of the Cajun couple’s wholesale and retail seafood outlet, the Seafood Shed, located in Golden Meadow, Louisiana. It’s late June and normally the phone at this coastal Louisiana business would be ringing off the hook from 7 a.m. till late evening with orders for shrimp, boats laden with seafood would be unloading their catch at the Terrebonne’s dock and the parking lot would be full of customers. With millions of gallons of crude oil polluting the Gulf and nearby estuaries, the dock’s conveyor belt silently rusts; no Louisiana shrimp are for sale and the Terrebonnes spend their days in the office like the parents of a critically-ill child in a hospital waiting room, wanting but dreading to know the future.

Jervis Eymard, 76, still shrimps Bayou Lafourche and offshore waters like many generations of his family before him. He can remember not long ago when there was land, where there is now water, marked by tombstones of dead oak trees. Some of this erosion was caused when oil companies would dredge canals and cut through the wetlands, allowing saltwater to intrude and destroy the marsh. But Eymard, who worked 36 years for Texaco, holds no grudge towards the oil industry. Like many other Cajuns, he was able to raise a family because of his job working on oil rigs. The oil leak scares Eymard, however, especially during hurricane season, which lasts from June through November. “We live in a hurricane-prone area, and if the oil gets into our estuaries, gets into our homes and into our streets, cities and towns, it’s going to be bad,”
he says.

Hoyt Ledet walked away from his job as a media specialist for a marine transportation company that supplies many of the deepwater oil rigs and platforms that work in the Gulf. The Galliano, Louisiana native felt the industry had taken control of his life, so he returned to his roots, delivering truckloads of shrimp, crabs and oysters to customers through his father’s wholesale seafood business. One of business’ biggest clients is the very company Ledet left three years ago. Despite his family’s many ties to oil industry, Ledet supports a moratorium on drilling because the culture and the environment are more important than oil and jobs.

“We’ve put up with a lot of adversity – hurricanes and just anything you can imagine – and we’ve persevered,” Ledet says. “What people need to understand is that you’re not just knocking out an industry or two. You’re knocking out a complete way of life that we’ve had for 200 years here.”

Use of Funds:

Initially, we sent photojournalist Rob Davis and journalist David Winkler-Schmit to the Gulf to write a few profiles with accompanying photographs of people who live on Louisiana’s coast. After one day of shooting – Davis decided to film all of Winkler-Schmit’s interviews – we realized the story of the Cajuns required more than a onetime profile and still photographs; telling the whole story would mean following our sources as they contend with this ongoing catastrophe, providing background on the Cajuns and the oil industry in the Gulf, and asking the kind of existential questions that keep these folks up at night worrying about their families and futures.

Your donations will cover shooting, production and post-production costs for a 30 minute documentary.

Our Team:
Rob Davis
Rob works as a photojournalist and multimedia producer based out of New Orleans. Davis’ photography has been published by a number of media outlets including USA Today, the New Orleans The Times-Picayune, Sports Illustrated, Reuters and Sporting News. He is a multimedia producer for Humidbeings.com and has created multimedia and documentary content on a range of subjects for them and other entities. Davis considers it a privilege to bear witness to some of the most important moments in people’s lives in order to tell their stories.

David Winkler-Schmit
Award-winning journalist David Winkler-Schmit has covered New Orleans and the Gulf South for many years, including the past three years as senior writer for Gambit, a local newsweekly. His work has appeared in numerous publications such as The Buffalo News, New Orleans The Times Picayune and The New York Times. He lives in New Orleans with his wife and their two children.

Blake Haney
Blake has 10 years experience as a creative director, designer and business owner. He directs, creates and manages all projects from web development to branding to marketing campaigns for The Canary Collective. Blake's expertise is in user interface design, storytelling and building communities around brands and ideas. He plans all future initiates with Canary's curated brands and serves as the chief client liaison. His experiences have garnered him exposure in local and national news including CNN and the New York Times. Blake resides in New Orleans with his wife Susan and their 4 dogs.