"Trouble the Water," The Movie
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner Trouble the Water takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. Directed and produced by Fahrenheit 9/11 producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, the film features an aspiring rap artist who survives the flooding of New Orleans by any means necessary, recording her experience in a chilling video diary which opens the film. "Captures a tale of thrilling human drama, terrible tragedy and unbelievable heroism among some of America's most stigmatized and downtrodden people." —Andrew O'Herir, Salon.com
Lessin is director and producer of Trouble the Water which won the Grand Jury Prizes at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Full Frame Festival. Lessin was a producer of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine. Lessin also directed and produced the documentary short about labor trafficking of garment workers Behind the Labels in partnership with Peter Gabriel's human rights group Witness. In television, Lessin's work as producer of the series The Awful Truth, which the Los Angeles Times called "the smartest and funniest show on television," earned her two Emmy nominations and one arrest.
Carl Deal is director and producer of Trouble the Water, along with Tia. Deal was the Archival Producer for Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, and has contributed to many other documentaries, among them Murderball, and John Pilger's recent The War on Democracy. He previously worked as an international news producer and has reported from natural disasters and conflict zones throughout the Americas, and in Iraq. Deal is a graduate of the Columbia University's School of Journalism, which awarded him the Sanders Social Justice Prize in 1994. He has authored investigative reports for Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Public Citizen.
