Writer/Producer/Director
Michelle A. Benoit

A Scotch-Irish-Cajun from the southwestern Louisiana prairies, Michelle has spent the last 16 years writing, producing and directing award-winning films (The Scoundrel's Wife), documentaries (Willie Francis Must Die), books, articles, museum text and videos, as well as a bi-annually published catalog of Louisiana items. Many of her projects are done in conjunction with her writing partner and husband Glen Pitre. She is currently Artist-in-Residence for Screenwriting and Film Directing at the University of New Orleans.

Before becoming a filmmaker, she worked at a wide variety of jobs including catering and sales manager at a four-star hotel in Washington D.C., a New Orleans city tour guide, an assistant to an international interior designer, and personal secretary to a nationally-known voodoo priestess.
Benoit said that she and Pitre learned about musician Don Vappie, a New Orleans Creole musician and the focus of American Creole: New Orleans Reunion, from a previous production.

“We knew Don and his band because they were featured in our film The Scoundrel's Wife. We just really loved the guy and the music and what he was doing for the whole aspect of New Orleans music," Benoit said. "We don't do family reunions, but we realized it was such a fascinating project... the musical heritage of New Orleans and how expansive it is."

Hurricane Katrina had a major effect on the focus of the film.

“It suddenly became the question of what identifies a culture. Creole history has had such a different interpretation since Americans got here. That tenuous culture was in danger of being relegated to the history books. So it became more important to show New Orleans through Don and showing that New Orleans is much more complex, much richer than what was portrayed on TV during Katrina. It's not a black and white city,” Benoit said. “We really want audiences to come away and say 'Wow. I didn't know New Orleans was that profound, musically and culturally. And it changed Don's story, because he had to deal with the White Elephant in the room.”

The storm also forced many people in Louisiana, including the filmmakers, to make important and painful decisions about their future in South Louisiana...

“After Katrina, this felt like my war. There was never any doubt that I would come back. It was a matter of checking every day to find out when we could come back,” Benoit said. “I had a real need to witness what was happening and to participate. Your voice, and your presence and being here makes a difference, which doesn't get to happen much in the modern world.”

Benoit hopes this documentary will help provide some insight into the Creole culture.

"Creole meant food, but in Lake Charles, when I was growing up, Cajun was white trash. So those terms didn't take on a positive connotation until the late 70s early 80s when it was cool to be Cajun, and Creole was even more exotic,” Benoit said. “My last name is Benoit, which is a good Cajun name, but there were black Benoits in my high school. You have black and white people with the same French names and you're all sort of the melting pot. Whether you're Cajun or Creole you're from Louisiana.”
American Creole: New Orleans Reunion also gives viewers a unique musical experience.

"One of the things that we really wanted to show is what it's like to be a musician, because we all secretly wish we had the talent to hold an audience in sway like they do,” Benoit said. “There are things that happen on stage between musicians... that backstage camaraderie... what Don calls telepathy. I don't know that we completely achieved that, because it's not the primary story we're telling, but I hope there are moments in the film that people get that feeling of what it means to be on stage and in the groove with your colleagues."