NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Modern Art announces the lineup for When the World Broke Open: Katrina and Its Afterlives, a film series running from August 27 through September 21, 2025, that explores the cultural, emotional, and historical contours of New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Presented on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 2005 storm, the series includes early films about the Gulf Coast and jazz, powerful footage captured during the hurricane, and a range of Hollywood movies and documentaries made in the years that followed. Together, these works reflect a defining rupture in American life—one whose reverberations are still being felt 20 years on. When the World Broke Open: Katrina and Its Afterlives is guest curated by Maya S. Cade, film programmer, and K. Austin Collins, critic and programmer. Organized at MoMA by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, and Francisco Valente, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film.

New Orleans native and Katrina survivor Maya S. Cade and critic and programmer K. Austin Collins shaped the series to offer audiences a unique opportunity to engage with the city’s rich cultural legacy and the lasting impact of Hurricane Katrina through a diverse selection of films. From intimate, on-the-ground footage shot during the storm to narrative features and documentaries that examine New Orleans’ recovery and resilience, When the World Broke Open highlights powerful stories of survival, community, and renewal.

Series highlights include Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, a landmark documentary that offers a powerful, multifaceted exploration of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation through testimonies from survivors, officials, and journalists. Filmed just three months after the storm, it traces the disaster’s history and ongoing impact on the Gulf Coast, addressing issues like FEMA funding and civic distrust. The series also includes the pilot episode of Treme, which follows New Orleans’ resilient musicians, artists, and residents as they navigate recovery amid loss and change. Celebrated for its authentic portrayal of the city’s cultural soul, Treme stands as a tribute to New Orleans’ enduring spirit and complex realities in the storm’s aftermath. That screening is followed by a conversation with Wendell Pierce and David Simon.

The lineup also includes Les Blank’s Always for Pleasure (1978), a joyous chronicle of New Orleans culture; Garrett Bradley’s Time (2020), a lyrical meditation on love, loss, and incarceration in Louisiana; and Spike Lee’s If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise (2010), a look at the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Other highlights include Kasi Lemmons’s Eve’s Bayou (1997), Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023), and Margaret Brown’s Descendant (2022), each offering intimate perspectives on Black life and memory in the region. The series also features Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (2013), Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), and Jim Jarmusch’s Down by Law (1986). Restoration premieres include Leo McCarey’s Belle of the Nineties (1934), written by and starring Mae West.