_Making Papa Noel : The Legacy of the Levee Bonfires
What began as a Holiday trip to New Orleans for Mark Niedelson and his brother to escape the cold of winter, evolved into an experience that would inspire his first full-length documentary film project.
They arrived in New Orleans the day before Christmas Eve with plans to explore the city and take advantage what the city is known for. Food, Music and Fun. So when he came across a handwritten note posted on the youth hostel bulletin board offering a Plantation Museum Tour featuring a 12-course meal and a trip to the Bonfire Festival, he decided to call the number and book the tour. The tour was conducted by a local man who collected Mark, his brother and eight other people in his van and off to the plantation museum they went. After touring the plantation, they were informed they would not be receiving the 12-course meal as promised and instead, stopped at a road-side diner for a hot dogs on their way to the Bonfire Festival.
Mark's disappointment immediately dissipated upon arriving to the River Road area in Gramercy, Louisiana (a 40-minute drive from New Orleans) when he saw the giant wooden bonfire structures and watched children gleefully sliding down the grassy-sided banks of the levee on flattened cardboard boxes. The sun was just starting to dip towards the horizon and as they strolled down the levee, they watched as people put their finishing touches on their bonfire structures. They stopped at the local firehouse where they were invited to enjoy a bowl of gumbo and started to learn about the celebrated history surrounding the Bonfire Festival. Dusk brought out the enthusiastic crowds of people who gather annually to witness the lighting of the bonfires which commences at 7:00 pm.
As Mark watched the spectacle of the elaborate bonfire structures igniting and experienced the incredible hospitality of this community who worked together every year, generation after generation, to continue this tradition, he knew that he would return the following year to capture and document this spectacular event.
And he did just that. The following year, Mark returned to New Orleans and traveled to Gramercy every day for three weeks to research the history of the festival, spend time in the local community, interview local historians, travel into the woods with a local Bonfire Club, capture the burning of the bonfires on film and much, much more in order to tell the story of the Bonfire Festival. Papa Noel, is that story.