Desire press and promotional materials
Press releases, promotional materials, and reviews for the movie Desire, directed by Julie Gustafson.
Press releases, promotional materials, and reviews for the movie Desire, directed by Julie Gustafson.
Independent videomaker, Julie Gustafson, invites a diverse group of teenage girls from New Orleans to make autobiographical videos exploring their developing sexuality and identity. An unprecedented long-term collaboration, DESIRE weaves together the girls’ video work, the stories of their changing lives, as well as the family, social and economic contexts in which their desires and choices are shaped.
The film begins in a primarily African-American housing project named ‘Desire’ and follows the lives of teenagers across diverse racial, political, class, and cultural backgrounds. Cassandra, Kimeca, Tracy, Peggy, and Tiffinie collaborate to tell their own stories of struggle and wrestling with questions of sexual identity, body image, family, future plans, and the pressures of finding one’s way in the world. As the film unfolds over the next five years, DESIRE honors each of the young women’s challenges and achievements, making clear that their ‘choices’ are linked not just to hopes and dreams, but to actual educational and economic opportunity– too often tinged with the racial disadvantage. In one remarkable scene, Kimeca, turns the camera on Gustafson, prompting her to share her own story of teenage pregnancy and the difficult decisions she made about abortion.
As John Anderson from Variety said: “Top-flight editing and a pace that never falters help “Desire” movingly tell the stories of its five subjects.” Justin Lane Briggs of The New School concurs: “The films the girls make themselves are shockingly honest and revealing…The result is a poignant and moving work, which stirs up a massive cloud of thoughts and issues without ever settling on one side of them… Cassandra and Tiffanie will haunt your dreams.
Two news hour segments concerning the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The first is a look at the experience of returning to the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina through the Chapoton family. The second illustrates the struggles faced by Baton Rouge, LA and its residents.
Brief news segment about the struggles of Hurricane Katrina refugees in Jefferson Parish. Highlights the lack of food and medical care.
Raw footage for the award-winning series The 90’s. This video starts with a tour of the bayou near Thibodaux, Louisiana and then continues with the videomaker, Judith Binder, talking to several of the residents therein.
This is a video by Judith Binder of New Orleans for the award-winning series, The 90’s. The first 20 minutes or so shows the city and various sites and attractions and the rest of the video shows a set by Marcia Ball, a New Orleans singer.
This tape features raw footage for the documentary “None of the Above,” an in depth ethnographic look at non voting citizens in the U.S. We watch as the RePass family prepares food at their home after Sunday services. Cindy RePass talks about her religious and political beliefs. We also watch as Frank RePass takes a few of the videomakers on a tour of Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans.
This tape features raw footage for the political documentary “None of the Above,” an in depth ethnographic look at non voting citizens in the U.S. This tape contains b-roll footage of the RePass family attending one of their children’s soccer games and Frank playing street chess in downtown New Orleans. Frank #5.