In Alexandra Kern’s poignant short film, Some Kind of Refuge, a pair of longtime residents reflect on their riverside way of life as some of the few remaining in The Batture, a seasonally flooded settlement along the Mississippi, just outside of New Orleans. We posed our Qs à la mode to Alexandra, and here’s what she shared!
If I had to describe my film using only three adjectives, they would be: Steady, meditative, human.
I wanted to make this film because: We were first and foremost inspired by the way of life and profound wisdom embedded in the Batture community — self-discovery, reciprocity with neighbors, and deep respect for nature. We also wanted this to be a cinematic preservation of a vanishing world.
The thing that surprised me most while making my film was: Just how alive and unpredictable the Mississippi River is, and how challenging it was to translate that energy to the screen. We spent a lot of time experimenting with ways to capture the Batture as a living, breathing landscape, in all its moods and rhythms. Our goal was for audiences to fall in love with this environment and feel a sense of awe for it, the way we do.
My favorite moment/scene/sequence in my film is: When Macon, who has spent his life archiving the history of this community, sits down alone with his archive collection in a humid, silent room. It’s a moment of slowing down and vulnerability. By this point, the audience already understands the deep meaning this place holds for its residents, and this scene allows us to feel how that history has faced erosion from all sides.
The scene reflects a larger truth running through the film: this is a community that has been repeatedly pressured to become something else — to be reshaped into the image of everywhere else — yet continues to hold onto its identity.
My most invaluable piece of doc-making equipment was/is: My team. It really does take a village. Everyone brings a unique skill and perspective, and the magic happens in the combination. That core philosophy guides everything I do: building a team that inspires one another and pushes the work forward.
My must-have snack to get me through hours in the editing room is: Seaweed!
One piece of documentary-filmmaking advice I’d like to share with aspiring documentarians is: Learning how to listen to your intuition in order to communicate cinematically to others how you see the world. Also, team is everything so digging for and finding those creative life partners with similar missions who inspire you is KEY.
Want to check out Alexandra’s film or just learn more about it?
Get the scoop, and your tickets, here!
