It is the commitment of the documentary filmmaker to delve deeper than the news media to excavate the stories underneath the rubble and between the broken slats. First person testimony was available as soon as the waters cleared, but even those testaments to heartache and destruction were told before the deeper impact was felt. The stories presented in the films exhibited at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and contained in this special DVD Collection entitled The Katrina Experience approach the tragedy from unusual, often surprising angles. Who would have thought to tell the forlorn tale of a soldier recently returned from Iraq too wrecked by his own memories and disappointments to help his neighbors in pain? Or a community of self-styled hippies who could have gotten out but didn't because they wanted to protect their dogs? And what about the music - from the brass bands of the street to the well-known artists that have established New Orleans's world-wide reputation - where did they go and would they return? And though many said this wasn't about race, what happens when hundreds of African Americans are relocated to a virtually and, some say, intentionally all white state? These were not the stories shown on news broadcasts such as CNN or ABC News Tonight during the weeks following Katrina; indeed they will not be seen by most of us months later, as it is human nature to turn our attention away when the news is over.

But these films remind us that the dramas continue. The filmmakers have tried to make sense of this tragedy by revealing the details hidden behind the headlines. And since there are serious lessons to be learned it is vital that these films are seen, not just at Full Frame but made available at libraries across the country to be seen by individuals in small cities and large. If documentary has the power to serve as historical evidence, then these films must be seen by everyone, so that history might, just this once, not repeat itself. So that we might never forget.

This project has been assembled in order to place these reports and these visions in the public record. It is not enough that the history of New Orleans is documented by video and print reports from temporary assignments in a moment of crisis. It is essential that the deeper issues of strength and the real questions of conflict be understood in peoples' lives. In seeing those issues in these films, we see how and why the people of New Orleans have been able to reorganize their lives and focus on the tasks at hand, the tasks of reconstructing one of the great American societies.

It is important to bring attention to and celebrate the courageous citizens who suffered through this event and are doing everything to restore their homes and communities. We believe this collection celebrates their spirit and speaks profoundly to the universal human condition.

Nancy Buirski, CEO, Founder and Artistic Director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival