Synopsis
Tchoupitoulas is a lyrical documentary that follows three adolescent brothers as they journey through one night in New Orleans, encountering a vibrant kaleidoscope of dancers, musicians, hustlers, and revelers parading through the lamplit streets. The filmmakers fully immerse us into the New Orleans night, passing through many lively and luminous locations and introducing us to the people who make the city their home.
A word from Tënk
Subtly political, free of spectacular effects or pre-determined narratives, Tchoupitoulas brings us along for one night in the French Quarter of New Orleans, in an endless, practically Odyssean, journey.
The filmmakers’ lyric vision transforms the confused wanderings of three young brothers, pariahs in spite of themselves in an enchanting world of music, clubs and alcohol, into a dreamlike sensory exploration of the sibling relationship as refuge. A sort of reverse American Dream of which the Ross brothers’ documentary serves as a fascinating purgatory, Tchoupitoulas juxtaposes a myriad of men and women in its nocturnal escapades, whose anonymous existence serves to fill the screen with a rare and wild cinematographic landscape.
Terence Chotard
Filmmaker
