The fall and rise of Princeville

As crowds in New Orleans and elsewhere celebrate Mardi Gras tonight, many will take at least a moment to contemplate the tragedy that followed Hurricane Katrina this summer.

For those watching "This Side of the River: Self-Determination and Survival in the Oldest Black Town in America," tonight at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, thoughts of Katrina will almost certainly come up. The shot-on-video documentary recalls the devastation of another black community, Princeville, after Hurricane Floyd devastated the Eastern North Carolina town in 1999.

Filmmakers Ryan Rowe and Drew Grimes wanted to capture the diligence, the solidarity and the strength-in-numbers spirit that have kept Princeville afloat for generations.

"You see a people who do come together and support each other, who are overcoming odds as we speak," Rowe says. "They always seem to find a way to come out on top."

The documentary began three years ago as Rowe's master's thesis. Then a graduate student in the English department at N.C. State University, his idea was to record an oral history of Princeville.

"It started as a linguistics project, and part of the linguistics program is recording interviews," says Rowe, now 30 and a research assistant at N.C. State.

Rowe pitched it as a movie to the university's North Carolina Language and Life Project, an outreach program that deals with education, public awareness and researching language in North Carolina. The program has helped make several films focusing on languages and cultures in the state.

Fellow grad student and co-director Grimes soon jumped on board to help Rowe in researching and interviewing townspeople.

"You had this town that had this rich history, but no one heard about it," Rowe says. "The idea was we would have this film that didn't just talk about the flooding, but the survival of this town to present day."

"It's important to understand the history of the town to provide context for the flood," adds Grimes, now working in media and graphic design for the Language and Life Project.

Through interviews with young and old residents as well as experts and historians, "River" details the town's origins, beginning with the freed slaves who founded it in 1865 and dubbed it "Freedom Hill." By 1885, it was renamed Princeville, after instrumental settler/carpenter Turner Prince, and became the first U.S. town incorporated by African-Americans.

The movie delves in the racial and economic struggles the town has faced, leading up to the wreckage that Hurricane Floyd caused. When talk of rebuilding began to surface, it drew criticism from both outside sources and a few of the townspeople.

"There was a buyout from FEMA to pick up and move," Rowe says. "When you watch the film, our intent is to show that they did what a lot of outsiders wouldn't do in that situation. In the end, they made the right decision."

As the filmmakers were wrapping up production and editing the film, culled from 80 tapes' worth of footage, the Katrina catastrophe happened.

"I don't see how you couldn't see the irony in what we were doing," Ryan says. "Princeville is very unique, but it's very symbolic of what happens in many black communities. [You see] the politics and hardships and racism that you saw with Katrina."

"It was a very interesting parallel to see it played out -- all over again," Grimes says.

Now that they're done with "River," they hope to pass it on to the as-yet-untitled, not-yet-constructed Princeville Museum.

Tonight's event will begin with a performance by Piedmont blues musician George Higgs, and the film will be followed by a panel discussion with a few of the historians and residents who appear in "River."

This won't be the first time the movie has screened recently in North Carolina. Over the weekend, the movie premiered in Princeville, drawing a great turnout. Says Grimes: "We wanted to be sure we told the story correctly."