Local, state and federal government officials made such a mess of things before & after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in '05 that many residents were forced to fend for themselves.

Filmmakers Ashley Sabin and David Redmon were among the first to record the compelling human drama that was taking place in post-Katrina New Orleans, and the Documentary Channel is pleased to be a forum for their work. Premiering this month is the Sabin-Redmon documentary “Kamp Katrina.” This film will grab you right out of the box and hold your attention until the last credit has rolled.

If you’re a frequent reader of this space, you might already know something about “Kamp Katrina.” We’ve met the filmmakers, took an immediate liking to them and their film and written about their experiences. For the uninitiated, a synopsis of “Kamp Katrina” is in order. The film tells the story of Ms. Pearl, a resident of the flood-ravaged 9th Ward of New Orleans and a Native American. One month after the storm, Ms. Pearl learns that there’s still an urgent need for housing displaced victims of the storm. She offers her back yard, complete with an outdoor bathroom, and immediately 14 people move into tents in what becomes a makeshift community.

Sabin and Redmon spent six months mingling with the motley crew of Kamp Katrina that includes a religious zealot who claims to be able to speak with Joan of Arc and a pregnant woman and her abusive husband whose drug and alcohol use exacerbate the miserable conditions. Ms. Pearl and her husband David Cross, who’s a construction worker, help to rebuild homes, but they also try to rebuild the lives of the people who’ve moved onto their property. The task isn’t easy, especially considering the emotional toll Katrina has taken on residents whose homes and very lives were swept away with startling swiftness and cruelty by the wind and subsequent flooding.

Further compounding a bad situation is the reluctance of New Orleans officials to allow survivor campsites to flourish, especially when they get to close to tourist hotspots or expensive private homes. Called the “fringe society” by one “Kamp Katrina” reviewer, the people who turned to Ms. Pearl’s back yard as refuge had no other choice. The Gulf Coast is still recovering, and in fact will never be the same after the fateful events of Aug. 29, 2005. But amid the strain of their Spartan living conditions and despite their own human frailties, the residents of Kamp Katrina try their best to persevere.

C.D.