LaVita -- a grandmama?

Local actor LaVita Brooks is one of the principal actors in “KATRINA’S WAKE” (a working title) ©2006 by kat scratch films, LLC. The film recently finished shooting and is in post-production.

It's the fictional story of family who seeks refuge in their attic from the rising flood waters of Hurricane Katrina. No food. No water. No escape. And, unfortunately, no one knows they’re there.


Written/Produced/Directed by Kathilynn Phillips
Co-Produced by Jeremy Nocon & Austin Haley (Little Bo Productions)
Executive Producer - Eric Springman

To add unparalleled realism to the film, it was shot over three days in actual old attic (though not in a home) in Tupelo, Mississippi. The cast was also issued only one set of clothing for wardrobe and had to wear the same clothes throughout filming. Just as a real family that might be trapped in an attic during the flood might experience, the cast was hosed down and remained wet for a large part of the first day of filming. The camera rolled for two more days, just short of the time lapse that is actually represented in the script. Filming had to be confined to morning and night schedules, however, with frequent breaks and long mid-day shutdowns in order to avoid heat exhaustion by cast and crew. Still, the temperatures averaged 115°F and hit as high as 118°F during the filming sessions.

The approximately half hour movie was shot in high definition 720/24PN using the New Panasonic DVCPro HD HVX200 camcorder. More extraordinarily, however, no tape media was used to store the footage. All recording was to Panasonic P2 digital data cards and downloaded to a portable “P2 Store” hard drive on set. The stored digital footage was then transported back to Pennsylvania and transferred to kat scratch films nonlinear HD editing suite where it is currently being processed.

One of the principal actors, LaVita Brooks, is from Memphis and has theatre, film and television experience. Though she is only in her early thirties, she portrayed “Grandmama” with such realism that the cast quickly began treating her as such even off set.