Kimberly and  Scott Roberts in Trouble the Water (Zeitgeist Films)

Trouble the Water (opening October 10 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) took home the well-deserved Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film offers a very personal account of Hurricane Katrina by essentially focusing on Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist who with her husband Scott was trapped in the 9th Ward when the hurricane hit. Kimberly had a home video camera and began shooting footage as soon as she and her neighbors starting seeing hurricane warnings on the news. Their remarkable home video footage was then incorporated into the documentary Trouble the water. Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal were fortunate enough to hook up with Roberts and to further document her story in the weeks and months following the devastation of the hurricane. The result is an amazingly intimate, powerful, and ultimately hopeful film about survival and unexpected second chances.

Kimberly and Scott described themselves as street hustlers but when the hurricane hits, Scott proves to be something of a hero helping others in need. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the couple run into problems with FEMA and witness the devastation to their neighborhood and surrounding areas. One of Kimberly's relatives describes how the aftermath is something that she would have expected in a third world country but not in the U.S. She feels that an underlying racism prompted the lack of response from the government and she tearfully explains how she won't let her son join the army of a country that has so neglected African Americans in the aftermath of Katrina. There's also an effectively enraging moment when a perky young woman plays a tourism video showing all the splendor of New Orleans and then we see the still devastated areas of the region, places where no help or money is coming in. Scenes like these are what make Trouble the Water so effective.

Trouble the Water (unrated) maintains a devastatingly effective first person narrative as it chronicles Katrina and its aftermath. You feel a sense of outrage that more has not been done to help these people. But the amazing thing is that despite all the hardships, all the government indifference, all the losses, the Roberts remain stunningly positive and hopeful. Their strength of spirit buoys what could have been a much bleaker film.

Companion viewing: When the Levees Broke, Bowling for Columbine

It can't be easy being a Muslim stand up comic in America. But Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert (opening October 3 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) documents three of the nation's top American Muslim comedians and reveals that they are finding success.

Having Religulous and Allah Made Me Funny opening in the same week is oddly appropriate. In Religulous, Maher had footage of his early stand up days when he says he was poking "gentle" fun at religion. What Allah reveals is that we may all have more in common than we think as these three Muslim comedians use their own particular backgrounds to find humor in all the things stand ups have been mining for years - family, marriage, mothers-in-law, and odd family remedies (olive oil in this case, it works on everything). Humor, as we've seen in the past, can be a great tool in challenging stereotypes.

Bill Maher interviews Christ at the Holy Land Experience in Religulous (Lionsgate)

With nearly a dozen films and two festival to cover this week, I'll get to as much as I can today. Top of my list, though, is the Bill Maher-Larry Charles documentary Religulous (opening October 3 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters). Maher describes himself as a non-believer and he sets out to ask believers why they believe. Now this is not designed as a comprehensive, balanced exploration of faith and religion. It is a very personal take on faith and religion, and on the role they both take in American culture, society, and politics. Think of it like a humorous op ed piece, and as the funniest film so far this year.

Trolley Dances airs on KPBS TV (John Pryor)

On Tuesday Sept.30th at 9:00 pm and repeating on Thursday October 2 at 3:00 am, KPBS TV will present the locally produced documentary Trolley Dances. Directed by SDSU's Mark Freeman, Trolley Dances documents the ten-year-old program of bringing dance to the street and people to the dance by using San Diego's Red Trolleys. Freeman's film focuses on six original site-specific dance performances.

According to Freeman:

Trolley Dances are delightful. I went on the tours for years before I had a chance to make the documentary. It was often an introduction to parts of San Diego that were unfamiliar to me. The dances brought the environment to life in unexpected ways. When I ever I returned to the sites of the performances they always retained a spark of the energy from the dances I had experienced in my first visit. Keith York at KPBS and Jean Isaacs, the founder of Trolley Dances, enthusiastically supported my vision of trying to capture the process of creating this unusual urban festival.

Freeman takes us behind the scenes for the process of creating interactive art within a public space. He captures the enthusiasm and energy of the artists, and the novelty of engaging people in places that they don't expect to find performances. If the film inspires you to seek out the actual dance performances, you can catch this year's 10th anniversary of Trolley Dances beginning at Hazard Center on October 4 and 5.

The documentary My Architect screens as part of the San Diego Architectual Foundation Film Series (HBO Documentary)

The Oscar-nominated documentary My Architect screens as part of the San Diego Architectual Foundation's film series on Thursday September 25 at 7:30pm in the Luce Loft (1037 J Street, doors open at 6:30pm). The film is a personal journey by Nathanial Kahn who undertakes a five year, worldwide trek in an effort to understand his famous father and architect Louis I. Kahn. Louis Kahn died alone in 1974. He was considered by  architectural historians to have been one of the most important architects of the second half of the twentieth century. As Louis Kahn's illegitimate son, Nathaniel sets out to try and reconcile the life and work of the mysterious and contradictory man that was his father.

The film will be presented by multi-hyphenate Keith York who is KPBS TV's director of programming as well as a teacher and mid-century design and architecture historian with his own architecture site. York is excited about the opportunity to screen this unique documentary:

In dreaming up the film series, San Diego Architecture Foundation Executive Director Leslee Schaffer saw this unique cinema showcase as including many curators and many different ways film and architecture have reflected each other. For our third outing, the San Diego Architecture Foundation presents a favorite film (and not just architecture related films) of mine My Architect. The film, about a son's journey to discover the deceased father he never knew, while a bit overplayed in the documentary format seeing its way through the film nation's film festivals, has never before come so alive on screen as Nathaniel Kahn's search for the identity of world renowned architect Louis I. Kahn. While I have spent many an afternoon enjoying every acoustical and visual facet of Louis Kahn's Salk Institute in La Jolla, it is witnessing many first-time visitors' reactions to what some have said is the single most important building west of the Mississippi, that is arresting. Sitting in the Luis Ramiro Morfín Barragán designed courtyard with a sunset, ocean and paraglider at the horizon, there may be no more beautiful built environment in our region. But Kahn's place in San Diego history, and the Salk's role in our regional architectural inventory aside, I hope by ModernSanDiego.Com sponsoring the presentation of this film, and having the chance to introduce the film, I can in a small way extend Kahn's myth and majesty to a few more people. Before the film, I hope to share a few stories about how Kahn's visits to San Diego so impressed local architects that even then, 40-plus years ago, while still alive, this man was a legend.

So if you are interested in both architecture and good filmmaking, check out the screening of My Architect. The screening is free but a donation of $10 is suggested.

Companion viewing: The Sketches of Frank Gehry. Belly of the Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision

Pairing political humorist Bill Maher and Borat director Larry Charles on a documentary about religion just sounds like you're asking for trouble or at the very least controversy. But trouble may be exactly what the new film Religulous wants to stir in the final weeks oging into the presidential election. Maher and Charles are self-described disbelievers who join forces to try and figure out why so many people are so blindly devoted to religion. Maher, raised by a Jewish mother and Catholic father, long ago renounced his faith in a higher being and now he wants to find out what makes other believe. Many may find his tone insulting and his approach one-sided but Maher is also consistently funny and provocative, and the documentary does raise questions about the role faith plays in our society. The trailer is courtesy of Lionsgate and is scheduled to open on October 3.

Orwell Rolls in His Grave (Sag Harbor Basement Pictures)

Remember reading George Orwell's 1984 in high school? The book offers a bleak vision of a future in which an all-knowing government employs pervasive and constant surveillance of its people, blatant propaganda, and brutal control over its citizens. The book inspired such new vocabulary as Big Brother and double speak. On September 23 Lestat's West will offer a free screening of a documentary that takes its cue from the author of 1984, Orwell Rolls in His Grave. Director Robert Kane Pappas serves up a critical examination of the media and asks whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth.

Pappas seeks out Charles Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity; Vincent Bugliosi, former L.A. prosecutor and legal scholar; film director and author Michael Moore; Rep. Bernie Sanders; Danny Schecter, author and former producer for ABC and CNN; and Tony Benn, former member of the British Parliament. Schecter tells us, "We falsely think of our country as a democracy when it has evolved into a mediacracy - where a media that is supposed to check political abuse is part of the political abuse."

The press notes for the film state: "1984 is no longer a date in the future." Orwell Rolls in His Grave screens at Lestat's West Showroom (3343 Adams Avenue) on September 23 at 7pm.

The documentary Flow: For Love of Water (Osilloscope)

In Flow: For Love of Water (opening September 19 at Landmark's Ken Cinema), filmmaker Irena Salina tackles what she calls the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - the world water crisis. And she's certainly not alone in identifying this as a major global concern. Like An Inconvenient Truth, her documentary Flow is designed to be a kind of wake up call for mainstream audiences who may be peripherally aware of the problem but not seeing it as a major concern. As long as clean water comes out when they turn on the tap, most people don't see a crisis.

NOTE: Following each of the prime evening screenings of Flow there will be a panel discussion about the film and water issues.

A Man Named Pearl (Shadow Distribution)

Last week I wrote about Reading Gaslamp wanting to bring more indie, foreign and art house films to San Diego on a regular basis. They continue to make good on their word with the opening of A Man Named Pearl on August 22. The documentary portrait of self-taught South Carolina topiary artist Pearl Fryar comes on the heels of Reading Gaslamp's engagement of another documentary portrait, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. A Man Named Pearl is a more lightweight film both in terms of its subject matter and its style. But while the Polanski doc left you frustrated by the legal system and angry at the media, A Man Named Pearl offers a thoroughly feel-good experience.

The 9th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition

Prepare for a breathtaking view of a submerged world with the 9th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. The Exhibition will be held at Qualcomm Hall's big screen auditorium in San Diego on Friday and Saturday evenings, August 22 and 23. The venue boasts state of the art digital projection (what else would you expect from Qualcomm) for its showcase of digital video, including many in high definition. There will be a different program of fifteen short films each night beginning at 7:00 PM. Each work clocks in at no longer than five minutes with subjects ranging from sharks to shipwrecks to colorful marine creatures, and each shot in exotic underwater locales across the globe and in our own backyard. The films celebrate the incredible beauty and visual splendor of life in the ocean. But the films also make us aware of how fragile this world is and how important it is to protect it. The clips made available in advance of the festival didn't identify the filmmakers or titles of the works, but one involving a playful seal and another involving a mesmerizing squid were particularly impressive.

Tickets are $15 per evening and are available online at sdufex.com, and at various San Diego dive shops, dive clubs and organizations.