Press / Press kit
Press kit
Everything you need to cover the film.
Synopsis, fact sheet, credits, awards, coverage and contacts for journalists, festival programmers and educators, in one seven-page PDF.
Logline
Sixty people who called it home reclaim the story of Desire, the New Orleans neighborhood the headlines got wrong, from the promise of the 1940s to Hurricane Katrina and the New Desire.
Short synopsis
A Place Called Desire shares the stories of the New Orleans Upper 9th Ward Desire community. Producer and director Leonard Smith III recreates the historical memory of a community and documents the legacy of pride by those who lived in this post-World War II development. Smith enables the viewer to look beyond unfair stereotypes and see the thriving, loving community of Desire.
Official program description, PBS.
Long synopsis
A Place Called Desire traces one of New Orleans’ earliest subdivisions for Black homeownership, and one of America’s largest housing developments, through the memories of more than sixty people who called Desire home. Their story is both a promising and a cautionary tale of what people can accomplish when given opportunities, and of how systems and society at large can both help to build and destroy a community’s pursuit of the American Dream.
Since 2008, filmmaker Leonard Smith III, who grew up in Desire in the 1960s and ’70s, has recorded the people who know this story best, weaving their interviews with family photographs and 8mm home movies. The film is presented from a vantage point the headlines never offered: that of insiders.
Downloads
Images and files
Press kit PDF
Seven pages: synopsis, fact sheet, chapters, filmmaker bio, credits, awards, press quotes, coverage and contacts.
Poster and stills
Official poster (artwork by Wicked by Design), trailer still and filmmaker portrait. High-resolution files on request.
Trailer and screener
The official trailer is on Vimeo. Private screener links for press, festivals and programmers are available on request.
Key credits
The team
- Director, Producer, Editor
- Leonard Smith III
- Executive Producer
- Tiffany S. Williams
- Writers
- Terry M. Smith and Leonard Smith III
- Associate Producer
- Larry Everage Jr., also Director of Video and Cinematographer
- Narrator
- Kalam Ali Muttalib
- Research
- Leonard Smith III; Valencia Hawkins, librarian
- Documentary Artwork
- Wicked by Design
- Production
- A Lenett Films Production for LS3 Studios, LLC
Recognition
Awards and festivals
- WinnerBest DocumentaryBlack Film Festival of New Orleans · 2021
- WinnerAudience Jury AwardBlack Film Festival of New Orleans · 2021
- WinnerLouisiana Heritage Media AwardLouisiana Trust for Historic Preservation · 2021
- Silver WinnerTelly Award2020
- Gold WinnerAVA Digital Awards2020
- Award of RecognitionThe Impact DOCS AwardsDocumentary Feature · 2020
- NomineeLEH Humanities Documentary Film of the YearLouisiana Endowment for the Humanities · 2020
- FinalistBest DocumentarySan Diego Black Film Festival · 2020
- SemifinalistRootsTech Film FestivalFirst RootsTech Film Fest
- Official SelectionNew Orleans Film Festival2020
- Official SelectionSan Francisco Black Film Festival2020
- Official SelectionParis Awards Film Festival
Press and booking
Contact LS3 Studios
For interviews with Leonard Smith III, screeners, high-resolution images, screenings and licensing.
By mail
LS3 Studios, LLC
Attn: A Place Called Desire
PO Box 247
Maurice, LA 70555
Bring Desire to your community