Stephanie Kovac is a woman on a mission.She wants to save the Louisiana “Cajun” Coast and is creating a film that she hopes will send the right message to further that end.However, she needs help.She has qualified to be a possible finalist for an American Express members’ program for funding of the project.Here is an Bayoubuzz interview that tells a story of her story for a quest for funds to finish the “CajunCoast” movie.
Tell us about your film project and what your are your goals?
I know there have been other documentaries about Louisiana's land loss filmed since hurricane Katrina. However, my film, "Tide of Tears: The Collapse of the CajunCoast", is the one story that has never been told. Most people know Louisiana is washing away, but they don't know that an age-old way of life is vanishing with the coast. For generations, the water has been the lifeblood of the Cajun people, but it is now a threat to their very survival. The Cajun people were exiled from Nova Scotia and I feel if nothing is done to save the coast, they will be forced to abandon the region, and I cannot imagine a more horrible existence for those who share such a spiritual connection with the land they love, and the land they have made a living off of for generations. It's like the old saying "fish out of water"... if you take the Cajun people away from the water, they are not going to survive.
Louisiana lawmakers have spent decades studying ways to save the coast. Yet, Kerry St. Pe', director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, has a plan in place to rebuild the coast -- a plan to pipeline river sediment to the areas that need it. The pipeline project could build back 400 square miles in 50 years and turn back the clock to 1956, a level of what he deems "acceptable risk."
My hope is that "Tide of Tears" creates a movement, a nationwide crusade that will motivate people to stop talking and start acting. I want every lawmaker in this country to realize what Louisiana gives to the nation, and in return, make the decision to give back and federally fund the pipeline project. I also want people around the country to make monetary donations or contribute their time to plant marshes on the ridge projects already in place.
How did you get involved in this endeavor?
I was filming a true crime TV show in Venice, Louisiana in 2004 and the locals there begged me to come back and do what they called "the real story". It was then that I learned of the magnitude of Louisiana's coastal erosion. I tried vigorously to get funding by reaching out to oil companies and movie stars. I had barely begun my search when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. While the worldwide exposure generated by the storms shed light on coastal erosion, it did very little to expose the imperiled Cajun culture. I have since become more determined to tell the story of the Cajun people. This year, I spent approximately $7,500 of my own money to fund a 15 minute trailer and was able to do so only because my Emmy award winning photographer and editor both donated their time to the project at no cost to me. We spent 7 days filming in south Louisiana in high definition. I finished the edit TODAY and will soon post the trailer on my website www.tideoftears.com
What are your personal needs to help it reach fruition?
I am still in a search to find funding, and refuse to give up until I have done so. On August 12th, I entered the documentary idea in a competition called the Members Project. It is sponsored by American Express, and asks the question, what would you do if you could make a difference in the world? My project currently ranks #53 in more than 700 projects but I cannot win without votes. I've been on an email campaign asking everyone I know to log on and cast a vote. American Express is awarding $2.5 million in funding to carry out the top 5 projects. The first round of voting ends September 1st and the top 25 projects are selected September 9th. The steps to vote are outlined below.
3) Click "Arts and Culture" at the bottom left on the home page.
4) Click "Language and Cultural Preservation".
5) Click "Reclaiming the CajunCoast".
6) Click "Nominate this Project".
7) Leave a comment about the importance of this project. Discussion is almost as important as votes.
What is your experience as a film maker? Tell us about yourself.
I have 20 years experience in the television industry as a writer and producer. I formed my own production company, Wishcraft Productions, Inc. in 1998 and have been freelancing ever since. I work for some of the biggest names in broadcasting including Good Morning America, Fox News Channel, and The History Channel. I have extensive experience producing long-format episodics, including "Forensic Files" and "Gangland", and I recently finished scripting a documentary on a trauma doctor's efforts to help Katrina survivors recover. It's a film called "Come Hell or High Water" and is currently being edited.
Do you hope to receive film tax credits?
Yes. The budget of the film is such that investors would receive tax credit of 25%.
Why are you personally “vested” in telling this story?
Louisiana is my grandparents' home, my parents home, and part of my heritage. I also believe the beauty of the area is the closest to heaven you can get. There is no question it is worth saving. Furthermore, I believe very strongly that man has a moral obligation to fix what he has destroyed. 40% of this nation's wetlands are in Louisiana. They're even called "America's wetland". Given all that Louisiana and the Cajun people have contributed to this country -- the oil and gas, the seafood, the history, the heritage -- it's about time America gave a damn, and gave back.
Mondays are always good days……. Being a citizen of the United States of America and a resident of the State of Louisiana a question comes to mind; “Does the government work for the benefit of the people, or do the people work for the benefit of the government?” Conversely, taking that query a step farther while contemplating the roles of government employees, and businesses which provide goods and services to the government, an additional paradigm for consideration can be stated as; “Do those entities work for the people, or do they only work for their selves?” Suspended in the midst of the quandaries’ indentified are considerations for the viability of associated ‘gray’ tangents involved during examinations and reflection as they relate to the subject of each position being pursued that should be the paramount issue. In other words, are disciplines and actions currently pursued working for the common and overall good, or are they perhaps invigorating confusion and harm? Written by
on 9/17/2008
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Sound like somebody's having a case of the mondays!! Written by Rodney Luther King
on 9/17/2008
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I never meant to imply that St. Pe' is crooked, and I am sure he is a swell feller with all sorts of neat ideas....... In fact, most accomplices to errant events throughout history were really nice fellers I am sure.. Take Piyush for instance, I am sure I could sit down and enjoy a strawberry shake while having a conversation and find him to be a real nice feller, or I could sit down and have a couple of shots of Jack Daniels with T-duhb and find him to be a real nice feller, and I am more than sure that I could go to the local jail house and talk to a handful of inmates and find more than a few of them to be real nice fellers, or I could go to a strip club and talk to one of the dancers after she gets off the stage and find her to be a real nice gal.... Hell, even 'Babs' is probably interesting when it comes to talking over Beneigts and a cup of Mocha Capucchino.... And I am sure that Fidel Castro or Saddam Hussein had their 'good side' also..... But the facts of the matter are; Good feller, or nice person, or whatever doesn't mean squat if they don't have their priorities right and have a plan that is good for the greater whole as well as theirselves... A person can take that last statement apart, and dissect it bit by bit and examine every nuance and in the end it will stand on its own merits for what was presented when it is put back on the table and ready for inspection... And that T-duhb is the pea brain Marine Corp way of looking at things.... Peace out Bub...... Written by
on 8/21/2008
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I've met St. Pe. He's a nice guy, and honest, but he is only mistaken about the causes of his land loss and the practically (i.e., none) of getting to his desired outcome. He's not crooked. There may well be greedy or crooked people who are supporting his efforts only because they see a chance to get a piece of the action but that's far, far from making the case that he's in on some scheme. Being sincere but wrong is not a crime, thank God. While I wish him well, he's on a "Fool's Errand," right up there with restoring the Chandeleur Islands. Written by Kelly "Listric Faults" Haggar
on 8/20/2008
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Watch how fast the Bayou Buzz staff shuffles this article to the sideline so the essay below isn't viewed so much........ Wouldn't want the people to figure out what's really going on now would we?????? Written by
on 8/20/2008
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That is prudent thinking there Kelly, but in actuality, there are not really any ‘lost’ causes, merely the fact of what it is, aggravated by the illusions of a ‘select few’ as to what they want it to be……. A person can build a house on an iceberg, that doesn’t make it a camp boat……….. Now if a person wants to live in midst, or amongst the great and bountiful marshlands of South Louisiana with all of its abundant natural resources then I advise not to build like they lived in a Los Angeles suburb, but instead build in the same fashion and manner as the prudent ‘cajuns’ and ‘coonasses’ before them did and build on stilts and pilings……….. If they want to live Lafayette style, then my advice is to move to Lafayette…… This St.Pe or whatever his name is, and his groupie orchestrated ‘grand plans’ are indicative of faulty approaches steeped in graft, corruption, greed and waste at the expense of the taxpayer that is going to donate their personal time, money, coupled with the extreme gamble when considering their potential loss of life and property as well as the many fishery based livelihoods to satisfy or placate the insatiable lust of profit and ‘security’ desired, and considered as necessary as well as strenuously although subliminally advocated so the common person doesn’t realize what is really happening by state organized hierarchy……… This type of thinking constitutes the rape of practical thinking citizens not only in Louisiana, but around the nation as well……… The Louisiana coastal marshlands are a fishery……… Period………. That is their natural design, that is their natural intent……. What this pumping of river sand amounts to in reality is the utilization of taxpayer funds to create ‘real estate’…… There is a prime model, funded by taxpayer dollars in existence to support this statement on the shore of Lake Palourde in Morgan City, Louisiana that can be seen by anyone that pleases to go view this ‘magnanimous’ creation……… That will save time and dissention when it comes to morons who will flame over this post in typical argumentative fashion based on their collective ignorance on the subject……………. The crop,,,, er uhhhhh, ‘corp’ of enjuneers pumped river sand from the Atchafalaya River to create all this ‘land’ on Lake Palourde…….. In fact, the concrete ‘grandstand’ you will see sitting several hundred feet from Hwy 70 that skirts the lake on the way to Stephensville used to sit ‘in’ Lake Palourde…… So what was done was portions of the lake weren’t reclaimed, soil was added in it to reduce the size of the lake and make land ‘magically’ appear……… And then a FEMA trailer park was established, and now the FEMA trailers are gone (wasn’t much need in the labor market around St.Mary Parish for an influx of former New Orleans area residents, the economy couldn’t support that crowd, so, they got tired of the scene and moved on to greener pastures and the Government removed the trailers….. but the electrical, sewage, water, cable, and telephone lines along with a few pads, and the ‘unimproved streets’ remain) so now ‘tourists’ can bring their RV’s, and campers to watch the boat races once a year………… And if there were even more land created, private developers could build condos, and apartments and houses, and more shopping centers on it!!!!!!!!!! All because of the influx of taxpayer dollars to make someone else’s goofy plans work and help them line their pockets at the same time….!!!!!!!!!! But let’s examine the project for what it really is………….. Beneath the St. Augustine grass and weeds sits a band of sand…. You know, as in move a submerged sandbar from one place and deposit it on top of another place be it liquid or semi-liquid to create land!!!!!!!!!! In other words the ecology has been changed….. The predominant plant species have been displaced, and now grasses are the prevalent greenery……… Now walk out to the nearby swamp and examine the existing flora and fauna…… Or go out to the marsh and slosh around….. It is mud…….. That is the primordial basis for the basic support of the environment that would be considered as ‘typical’ in a marshland…. Or most swamp south of the Intracoastal Canal…. It is what fish love to lay their eggs in, and what shrimp love to propagate in…. In other words, the African Penguin lives in South Africa, and the Chinstrap Penguin lives in the snows and ice of the Antarctic…… Polar Bears live in ‘Polar Regions’ and Brown Bears (Where South Louisiana is to be considered) live in swamps and adjacent ‘high ground’….. So turning the marsh into a great sand dune because a sandbar was dredged from a river would in reality cause our marsh to take on the ecological characteristics of the sand hills associated with Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, or the tidal flats around Galveston bay displacing a large selection of our naturally occurring fisheries and wildlife commonly associated with Southern Louisiana……. And perhaps with detrimental and unavoidable consequences to the common varieties of seafood many are dependent upon in order to make a living………. And besides, the sand’s weight will merely compact substrata causing the primary alluvial composition associated with our southern marshes to further compress or sink causing a never ending chain of pumping and dredging to continue on until hell freezes over….. And when the Fed’s money runs out to fund this nonsense, the only alternative that will be available to generate additional dollars because the fisheries have become debased and lack in predicable market productivity and viability, houses and apartments, and condos, and shopping centers will be erected so that the developers can make their money, and the Government can make its tax money based on tax dollars….. Simple as that…. But here is the interesting part of this trick…… To play around, and stretch the time out so that people become complacent, and accept the gradual changes that they see while their lives play out, and future generations don’t care so much anymore…… That is the underlying tactic, those are the facts, that is the shame, and all at the expense of the taxpayer and others that the governmentally sanctioned hierarchy or oligarchy are able to dupe…………… FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE: (aside from building on stilts or pilings out of reach of storm driven wave action or flooding) Artificial offshore barrier islands…. SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE, FIRST PRIORITY IN PURSUIT OF MARSHLAND AND ITS ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION: Allow the Mississippi River to replenish those sinking and eroding areas……… Ahh, but some moron may say “What’s the difference whether we let the Mississippi River do the work or we simply take its soil in a mechanical method?” Simple, The Mississippi river carries ‘silt’ and the associated sand is not in the scale or caliber as dredging ‘sand bars’…. It is a different medium in its entirety, and that is what the base substance is composed of in the ecology supporting building block which is alluvial in nature….. NOT SAND!!!!!!!!!! What is the reality of the multiple billions upon billions of dollars that are going to be expended over the course of the upcoming decades? Well, a select few are going to have suction dredges, and of course the state agencies or going to squeeze the funds dry so the state employees can cruise around in air conditioned Hummers as soon as Piyush gets GM to commit to staying, And all the goofies associated on the academic level will get their annual grants to wander around in bass boats while they collect soil samples, and water samples, and count frogs, and fish, and ducks and mosquitoes in search of the perplexing answer to their academically inspired question of “Why are the fisheries in Louisiana all of a sudden declining after we turned the Marsh into the Padre Island of the north????? So cheers folks…… There you have it…………. So babble on……………………………… Written by ......................STRONGCONCRETE..............
on 8/20/2008
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Remember the old saw that it's sad when a beautiful theory gets beaten up by a tough gang of facts? There are some places on the coast of La where no amount of piping at the surface will ever be able to outrun the geological facts below the surface. Our basement is NOT at 10 meters and it isn't stable and the truly humane thing we can do for the most exposed is buy them higher homes further inland. The best service La could perform along the coast is identify the "lost cause locations" and evacuate them. Written by Kelly "Listric Faults" Haggar
on 8/19/2008
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on this day in history, in 1960 the Russian Sputnik 5 carries 2 dogs, 3 mice into orbit (later recovered alive)..... And on this day in history, we found out on the Bayou Buzz that it is going to probably take 50 years before coastal restoration has been completed, if it doesn't all get washed away before hand..... Crazy, crazy, crazy, the Russians can spend some money, send 2 dogs and 3 mice out into outer space, and then retrieve them, and the State of Louisiana can't even figure out how to go about saving the state and federal taxpayers a heap of money, and a lot of time and aggravation by putting STRONGCONCRETE on line...... Oh, and while the Guv Bobby is running around trying to advise GM how to run its business or what the state can do to help? it's business...... What a joke!!!!!!
Written by
on 8/19/2008
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Kerry St. Pe' is an interesting person, and he talks a good game if you don't mind putting up with the additonal losses and expenses that are going to take place while his successors play around for 50 years...... I would suppose coastal restoration on steroids is out of the question, but that is what STRONGCONCRETE could help provide...... Ahhh those intellectuals, such a whimsical bunch they are........ Written by
on 8/19/2008
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