/images/dot_clr.gif) Saltwater Blood
Producer : Moira Griffin
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| Saltwater Blood is the story of three African-American Oystermen and their families in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana whose livelihoods and way of life have been forever changed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. |
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| “Not Type A or B but Type SALTWATER” April 20th is a day that the people of Plaquemines Parish won’t soon forget. To the rest of the world, it was the day of the biggest environmental disaster in recent history that shook the United States. For the people who live and work along the coastline, it was the day their way of life ended. For the African-American Oystermen in the area, it marked yet another chapter in the struggle to maintain and fight for their land and lively hoods. Having barely recovered from the nightmare Hurricane Katrina wrought, these men and women now work together to battle for their waters and their families. We journey to Phoenix, Louisiana to discover a people steeped in a history filled with battlescars. These families are descendants of freed slaves who became landowners and worked the waters to provide a better way of life for an entire community. These were the same families who fought to integrate the schools in the 1960s and successfully sued the government over the freshwater diversion project, which forcibly removed them from their land. We follow three families, the Encalades, the Griffins and the Edwards as they organize for the biggest battle of their lives. Along the way we will document and showcase the power of unity in struggle. |
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| MARSHALL TYLER-DIRECTOR/DP
Marshall Tyler’s experience and budding success as a director underscores years of hard work, training and study, under one of the best and respected in the film business, Academy Award nominated director, Michael Mann (Heat, Ali, The Insider). Tyler started from the bottom as a production assistant with the task-oriented, detail-driven director, until Tyler’s persistence, talent, and ability to work well under pressure caught Mann’s eye and was subsequently promoted to Mann’s assistant.
Alongside Mann, Tyler developed relationships and learned how to work with top-notch actors and craftsmen. During Collateral, Mann handed him a video camera and instructed Tyler to shoot footage for the Tom Cruise thriller, which ended up being used in HBO’s First Look special, The Making of Collateral. Tyler was again tapped by Mann to do the same on his next film, Miami Vice and most recently for his latest, epic crime saga, Public Enemies.
Using his unique strengths as a shooter-storyteller, Tyler was pegged to direct a feature length documentary for Fugees' star Pras Michel, who went from "Ghetto Supastar" to skid row nobody. The doc, aptly titled Skid Row, has Grammy award winner Michel living as a homeless man on the streets of downtown LA’s skid row, the nation’s largest, for nine straight days. The well received, gripping documentary was released in theatres in Los Angeles, New York and D.C. and received praise and coverage from The Los Angeles Times and New York Times respectively.
Marshall is currently developing his feature narrative debut, a political thriller exploring the corruption and turmoil in Haiti titled, Bel Air and His latest film a documentary on Somalian piracy, Paper Dreams was shot over the course of several months in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, London, Washington, DC and Minnesota.
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MOIRA GRIFFIN-PRODUCER
Moira Griffin-Producer
Independently, through her company Melana Entertainment, Moira Griffin is producing Paper Dreams, by Marshall Tyler (SKID ROW), an inside look at the pirates in Somalia with Pras Michel (Fugees) and Damon Bingham (TYSON). She executive-produced MASTER HAROLD & THE BOYS an adaptation of the award winning Broadway play starring Ving Rhames. Moira is producing THE INFINITE LIFE OF STUART HORNSLEY (winner Emerging Talent Narrative-Tribeca Film Festival) by Leigh Dana Jackson (writer for ABC’s No Ordinary Family) starring Joy Bryant (NBC’s PARENTHOOD) and Tunde Adebimpe (TV on the Radio, RACHEL’S GETTING MARRIED). She is also filming the documentary THE LOVE PROJECT (Sept 2010) that addresses the political, cultural and social issues confronting black women in America who are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.
Moira Griffin previously worked as VP of Development with Pipedream Productions developing scripts with writers such as Oscar Winner Julian Fellowes and director Austin Chick. She produced numerous short films including the award winning NIGHT MAGIC by Bernardo Ruiz (Independent Lens-PBS) and HUG by Khary Jones (Official Selection Sundance 2009). Moira has worked in production management for a variety of companies including VH1 and Mega Entertainment. In addition, she is a founding director of Rooftop Films and has curated film programs for multiple organizations from Ocularis (New York, NY) to the Global Peace Film Festival (Bali, India). Moira has lent her talents a judge and panelist at film festivals and grant making organizations including the Atlanta Film Festival, New York State Council for the Arts and Creative Capital. She is currently lead advisor for the Ethiopian Film Initiative (EFI) with the IETFA in Monaco working to establish a film school in Ethiopia.
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| When Marshall and I first arrived to New Orleans last October on a cross-country trip, we knew we had to return. Little did we know that the journey back would change our lives. We intended to come back and shoot a short narrative film only to become witnesses to history when the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hit the shores of Louisiana. We stumbled upon the story of African-American Oystermen affected by the spill and realized that their story needed to be told because it was our story, our history. When we met the men and women of Phoenix, Louisiana they welcomed us with open arms. We learned about freed slaves whose property was still in the hands of their descendants. We discovered the strong bond that holds this community together. And I found my father's family, or as they say in Phoenix, my kin. Lost among the stories we see on the news, is the real history of African-American self reliance which created a community that thrived and survived the worst times in American history by depending on each other, and which due to corporate malfeasance will be torn apart forever.
Having run out of time and money we are blessed to have recently received some donated equipment and this grant would allow us to continue to shoot for the next month. |
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