Kids Comics Pitchfest Showcase

When The River Rises

It's August 28th, 2005, and Hurricane Katrina is about to make landfall. On the outskirts of New Orleans, 16-year-old SYDQUAN TOMPKINS is biding his time in juvenile hall, keeping quiet about a crime he did not commit. Syd expects to be released soon due to the storm. But after the staff clears out, the state ships the kids to ORLEANS PARISH PRISON for safekeeping.

Syd's estranged father RUSSELL GATES is already a resident. Three months from parole, Russ is grateful for the walls for once -- that is until Syd arrives. The two bump heads immediately, but after the lights go out and the inmates break loose, the pair reluctantly teams up to escape the prison and rescue their family stranded in the lower Ninth Ward.

INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS.

My Why:

Back when I was an English teacher, I came to realize there was a gap in the curriculum. My honors students connected easily with Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison. But those with more challenges had a harder time. Quite frankly, they were underserved by the books on offer. They needed another bridge to connect to literature. I kept this thought in mind when I came across a BBC doc about the events at Orleans Parish Prison during Hurricane Katrina when I was an assistant at CAA. Juvies locked up with the toughest criminals in New Orleans for days on end? Could this be possible? It turns out the truth was worse, as detailed by the ACLU's National Prison Project. So I vowed to do my part for social justice by bringing these events to light.