When EVERYONE believes they are doing RIGHT,
how can so much go WRONG?
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, America suffered the worst domesticated animal crisis in its history. Tens of thousands of house pets were left to perish in neighborhoods all across the gulf when their owners were forced to evacuate without them.
Tom McPhee went to Gonzales, Louisiana not knowing how he would help, just knowing he needed to help somehow. He volunteered at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center and by chance found himself spending the next four days taking picture after picture of thousands of house pets rescued from flooded New Orleans. Over the next 18 months Tom would document this unparalleled historic event as it unfolded, trying to understand where it all went wrong.
An American Opera is an unflinching, operatic vision of what happened to the people of New Orleans who were forced to evacuate without their beloved pets. Follow the story of the pets, vets, owners, officials, rescuers and adopters of animals as they all work through the chaos to do what is right only to discover not everyone is working toward the same goal!
