M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

M
INE is a documentary film by Geralyn
Pezanoski about what happened to people and
their animals in the wake of 2005's hurricane
Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.
An unprecedented number of animals were left
homeless and alone when residents were forced to leave
New Orleans. In the aftermath of the hurricane, a
massive rescue and adoption effort saved the lives of
many animals and secured loving homes for them.
However, in the midst of the chaos and disorganization,
displaced guardians were still searching for their beloved
animals and were desperate to be reunited.
MINE shares the perspectives of the original
guardians, rescuers and adoptive parents, all of whom
have one thing in common -- they want what is best for
the animals. However, each person has a different --
often conflicting -- idea of how to achieve this goal. I
spoke with the film's director Geralyn Pezanoski in May
2009 about her experiences making MINE.
Can you explain how this documentary came to
be?
Like many, I watched with horror and dismay as events
unfolded after Hurricane Katrina. And like many others, I
was so relieved to see the news coverage of people
being rescued. But that relief gave way to a new horror
as I saw the images of pets being left behind as their
people were airlifted to safety. The official policy of the
emergency response teams seemed to be that the lives
of animals were not worth saving. What struck me the
most at the time was that this was not merely a passive
act, but an active and conscious negation of the worth of
these animals, not only in their own right, but to the
people who loved them as family and had risked their
87
MINE
MINE is the powerful story about the essential bond between humans and animals told against the backdrop of one of the
worst natural disasters in U.S. history.
Text and Questions by Lisa Brown
own lives rather than abandon their animal companions.
Not long after, I learned that there was a rescue effort
underway and that more volunteers were needed to
help save the tens of thousands of animals that were still
stranded in New Orleans and all over the gulf coast. As a
producer, I felt like I could help through the medium of
film and assembled a volunteer crew to go down and
document the conditions and what was growing into a
massive rescue effort. The goal at that time was to create
a series of television spots to raise awareness of the
urgent situation facing these animals and to raise money
for rescue groups. Through the course of filming it
became clear to me that there was a much bigger story
than that of the rescue. As months went on and disputes
began to arise over who should keep these rescued
animals, I felt like this was the story that I really needed
to tell.
Before you began work on the film, had you given
much thought to the impact of environmental
disasters on companion animals?
The impact of environmental disasters on companion
animals had really never been a part of my consciousness
before Katrina. If one good thing came out of this
tragedy it might be that we’re paying attention now and
hopefully taking measures to ensure nothing like this can
happen again.
A central theme of the film is that of belonging
— who, if anyone, has the right to call an animal
“mine?” Did you personally draw a conclusion to
this question, and did your perceptions of both
the question and the answer change in the
making of this film?