"Shake the Devil Off" documentary: a tale of woe and music in New Orleans

For American-born documentary film-maker Peter Entell, who lives in Switzerland, his award-winning "Shake the Devil Off" - a film looking at the aftermath of hurricane Katrina - was his first project to be shot in the States in 35 years of work. He told Jennifer Clickner how he came to make the film. What prompted a film in the States?
I got a call from a friend in New Orleans who had to evacuate, just as her local church was closing, a parish central to the lives of the local poor blacks. My friend’s ancestors were members of the church back in the 1840s –where many consider that New Orleans jazz was born. Everyone says New Orleans is the cradle of jazz, but from this first ever black church, people would come out singing and dancing.
That’s why the music became such an integral part of the film. People protest with words, deeds, and music. That’s why as this story began to unfold, you had world class jazz musicans Deacon John Moore, and the Marsalis family coming to support this movement, and this church.
 
My friend said that there was something big going down. I had no money, no budget, no crew, so I called a friend here in Switzerland, a cameraman, who had been in New Orleans when the waters rose. We managed to get tickets, and lived in the church with the priest, who had a gag order on him, so no interviews. So we just filmed what happened, and the story unfolded, full of such great characters, music and dancing.
We were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. This story touched on so many things - greed, racism, a community who had been disempowered – it put a face on this oppression and suffering. But I had no idea from one day to the next what would happen. There are no second takes, nothing can be repeated, the cameraman had to get the filming right the first time. 
You managed to secure nationwide distribution for this documentary, not an easy task. How?
 
The film won at Nashville, was shown at the Montreal Film festival and at Locarno to packed houses. Distributors saw it there and wanted it right away.
 
This film was your first made in the US. It seems you prefer making films in Switzerland.
I think Switzerland is a paradise for making movies. I feel supported in my work; there is tremendous interest in documentaries. Swiss people are not afraid to go the cinema to see a documentary. There are all kinds of structures that exist to finance films. It’s the result of filmmakers’ hard efforts here to convince the different institutions to support film-making

Shake the Devil Off is on at the Scala in Geneva, the Capitole in Nyon and Galerie Cinemas in Lausanne. Watch trailer