Friday, May 8, 2026

'Katrina: Come Hell and High Water' leads social issue documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Flashback Friday


Slight change of plans from yesterday, when I wrote, "I'll probably examine Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time tomorrow." I decided to highlight the other nominee about Hurricane Katrina, Katrina: Come Hell and High Water, which leads the nominees for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary with three nominations, including Outstanding Direction: Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary in addition to Outstanding Social Issue Documentary. It's followed by The Ride Ahead with two nominations, then Born Poor, Enigma, and Searching for Amani with just this one category nomination. I'm sharing the trailers in that order, beginning with Katrina: Come Hell and High Water | Official Trailer | Netflix.

This is the story of a brutal coastal hurricane turned cataclysmic through human error and neglect. Over the course of a gripping and emotional three episodes, the people of New Orleans recount their past, extoll their present and lean into the future of what they and their beloved city survived and have become 20 years later. The series sets the stage for a tragedy - whose man-made elements expose the systemic governmental neglect that led to the city being defenseless in the face of the storm - and Katrina’s devastating impact that changed New Orleans irreparably. Detailed, harrowing and triumphant first-person accounts and never before seen archive illustrate the magnitude of Katrina, the aftermath of the levees breaking and the bungled recovery.
Katrina was a foreseeable disaster. I remember listening to an NPR story a year or more before Katrina hit explaining how New Orleans' levees were only built to withstand a category three hurricane, so they would fail under a category four or five storm, and describing what would likely happen if — when — one struck. It did. It also mentioned in passing that, while being poor is hard, New Orleans was probably the easiest city to be poor in. Katrina took that away. I've been recommending Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time to my students. Now I can recommend Katrina: Come Hell and High Water to them, too. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

Next, The Ride Ahead | Official Trailer | POV on PBS.

What does adulthood look like when the world isn’t built for your body?

In THE RIDE AHEAD, Samuel Habib is ready for independence as he turns 21—but every rite of passage is complicated by ableist systems and physical barriers. Facing seizures, inaccessible housing, and degrading encounters, he sets out to find community and answers.

With humor, honesty, and a deep commitment to disability justice, Samuel travels across the U.S. to meet activists and role models who help him reimagine what freedom, adulthood, and love can look like.

A coming-of-age story rooted in interdependence, dignity, and the power of community.
As soon as I read the video description, I thought of Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. Sure enough, the trailer advertises that the co-director of Crip Camp is involved, as is Judith Heumann, who won Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The trailer also features some of the animation in the movie, which shows me it deserves its second nomination for Outstanding Graphic Design: Documentary.

'Born Poor' & Now Grown, They're Trying to Shake Poverty's Impact | Documentary Prologue | FRONTLINE is the first of the nominees with only this one category nomination in alphabetical order.

Meet Brittany, Johnny and Kaylie, whose journeys — filmed across 14 years — are at the heart of the new documentary "Born Poor." Watch the prologue now.

This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: https://www.pbs.org/donate

The 90-minute documentary "Born Poor" premieres Tues., Oct. 7, 2025 on @frontline's YouTube channel, in the PBS App, at pbs.org/frontline and on PBS stations. The film follows these three kids from three families across three chapters of their lives — from childhood through the teen years to young adulthood — and offers a powerful, personal and longitudinal look at the realities of growing up in poverty in the U.S.

“Born Poor” is a FRONTLINE production with True Vision Productions. The director is Jezza Neumann. The producers are Jezza Neumann and Lauren Mucciolo. The senior producer is Frank Koughan. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
This looked familiar, but I probably am misremembering FRONTLINE's "Two American Families: 1991-2024," nominated in this category last year. FRONTLINE does good work examining poverty and society.

Next, Enigma | Official Trailer | HBO, which could as easily been nominated for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary.



“You are free to choose your destiny.”

I think this might have done well at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards; it looks like their kind of documentary.

Today's last video is TRAILER: Searching for Amani.

A thirteen-year-old aspiring journalist investigates his father’s mysterious murder within the boundaries of one of Kenya’s largest wildlife conservancies. As a ravaging drought encroaches, his quest to find the killer shifts and an activist is born as the collateral damage of a warming world is revealed.
Looks like I found another movie I can recommend to my students. Again, welcome to blogging as professional development, even if I'm only planning on teaching one more semester, which begins Monday.

Now to examine the other nominations for Katrina: Come Hell and High Water and The Ride Ahead.

Outstanding Editing: Documentary
Cover-Up
Netflix [Plan B | Netflix | Praxis Films]
Folktales
Loki Films [Fifth Season | Impact Partners | Topic Studios]
Katrina: Come Hell and High Water
Netflix [Netflix | Message Pictures]
Life After
Multitude Films | PBS [ITVS]
Love + War
Little Monster Films [National Geographic]
2000 Meters to Andriivka
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Associated Press]
Thoughts & Prayers
HBO Documentary Films [Tony Tina]
The White House Effect
Actual Films | Netflix [Netflix | The Department of Motion Pictures]
I think 2000 Meters to Andriivka is the favorite, if only because it's the only nominee also nominated for Best Editing at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards and I suspect 2000 Meters to Andriivka might sweep its categories.

I return to 'Sally' leads Science and Technology Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Katrina: Come Hell and High Water's third nomination.

Sally should just be happy to be nominated in this category. 2000 Meters to Andriivka has six nominations, including Best Documentary. Life After has four, also including Best Documentary, as does The Stringer. Katrina: Come Hell and High Water and Vietnam: The War That Changed America both tied Sally with three. Apocalypse in the Tropics and Music Box: It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley have just this one. Out of this field, 2000 Meters to Andriivka is my provisional favorite.
I still think so.

Now for The Ride Ahead's second nomination from 'Underdogs' earns four News & Doc Emmy Award nominations.

Outstanding Graphic Design: Documentary
Antidote/Kill List
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Passion Pictures | Bellingcat]
The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets
Texas Crew Productions [Peacock Original | New York Post Entertainment | G Unit Film & Television, Inc.]
The Ride Ahead
LikeRightNow Films
Titanic: The Digital Resurrection
Atlantic Productions [National Geographic]
Underdogs
Wildstar Films [Maximum Effort | National Geographic]
In Waves and War
Studio AKA [Netflix | Actual Films]
This is likely to be Underdogs' best shot to win, but it faces a tough competitor in Titanic: The Digital Resurrection. Either way, National Geographic would win.
The Ride Ahead's animation looks impressive and fun and it advances the narrative well, so I wouldn't count it out.

I found an entry about Hurricane Katrina among the most read during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, so I'm featuring it and another from the back catalog at the intersection of entertainment, climate change and extreme weather over the jump.


Web search contributed to The history of Six Flags New Orleans on the 14th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina from August 30, 2019 earning 488 raw page views by March 20, 2026 to ran 68th overall for the blogging year.


Web search contributed to Promoting 'An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power' from August 1, 2017 collecting 448 raw page views by March 20, 2026 to rank 79th overall for the year.

That's a wrap for this week's installments in this series. I plan on returning to the News & Doc Emmy Awards next week. In the meantime, stay tuned for Mother's Day.

Previous posts in this series Previous posts about the 57th News & Doc Emmy Awards Previous retrospectives about entertainment Previous retrospectives about the back catalog. Previous retrospectives about top climate posts
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)