Faces of Frenchmen (2013)

I lived and studied in New Orleans from 2011-2015. The city changed as quickly as I fell in love with it, and continues to evolve. With a renaissance and resurgence of tourism, real estate investment, and population changes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the fabric of the city of New Orleans is changing, too. Few places in the city represent this ongoing change and collision of old, new, and culture vs vulture than Frenchmen Street. The street is a popular destination for lovers of music and nightlife, but it is also home to working-class residents of the city. This short film explores the dichotomy of the two, where they intertwine, and how the insurgence of new development threatens the old, and by design, the soul of the city as we know it. It digs into the effects of gentrification on this street, which is in many ways a microcosm for the city as a whole as it continues to evolve.