Interview with Tia Lessin, Co-Director of Trouble the Water

Co- director Tia Lessin talks about Trouble the Water, a documentary about rap artist Kim Roberts and her streetwise husband Scott who—while trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters—seized the chance to build a new life and inspire others around them. Click here to learn more about Trouble the Water and to view clips of the movie.

KJK: How did you get your start in film? Did you have mentors?

TL: I got my start working for documentary filmmakers Charles Guggenheim and Arthur Dong and then spent many years producing for Michael Moore on his two television series (which resulted in a lifetime ban from Disneyland), and on his films The Big One, Bowling for Columbine, and Fahrenheit 9/11. Producing for Michael taught me to aggressively think outside the box, find the humor in otherwise humorless situations, and be unapologetic in my storytelling.

KK: You were ready to give up filming and start volunteering at a shelter when you saw what was happening after Katrina. What was it about Kim and Scott that made you change your mind?

TL: Kim and Scott Roberts drew us in from the instant we met them—they were hard edged, self-described street hustlers who were also incredibly warm-hearted and generous in spirit. My partner Carl Deal and I were eager to see how it would turn out for them, and felt that an audience would be, too. On top of that, Kim and Scott are gifted storytellers—charismatic and irrepressible and they had shot footage from the hurricane that was heart stopping—we’d never seen anything like it in our lives. We were determined to get it out to a wide audience.

KK: There have been a lot of films about Katrina, but yours was incredibly personal and moving. Describe how you think you made that happen.

TL: First off, Trouble the Water is not about Katrina. It’s an extraordinary story about a couple who have been through many storms in their lives, and are trying to beat the odds and survive. What makes it so emotional is that it takes you inside the reality of race and poverty in America.

And Carl and I set out to tell a story, not to deliver information. While we were filming, we felt surprise and outrage, and were moved to tears and laughter and we knew that unless we screwed it up in the edit room, the audience would also feel the same emotions. You can’t expect the audience will feel something that you don’t yourself feel when the cameras are rolling. You can’t manufacture that. It has to be real.

KK: What was the biggest challenge for you in making Trouble the Water?

TL: When we started filming with them, their only demand on us was to “keep it real,” and they tell me we succeeded. It was important to us as white filmmakers from the north not to follow the easy path so many in the media did by portraying Kimberly and Scott and their community as helpless victims, and also not go the other extreme of casting them as larger-than-life heroes. We were determined to avoid typecasting and portray them as they are—streetwise survivors, trying to change their lives and community for the better.