About
A towboat drifts down the Mississippi River, due for the port of New Orleans. The water, the banks, the bright lights of a port ahead; the lure of a coming paycheck and a home-cooked meal. This is the world of Barge. On board, dry land’s misfits find purpose and direction twenty-eight days at a time as the steady hands of an industrial ecosystem teeming with line boats, fleet boats, and a few million tons of cargo moved each year. A green deckhand following his father and grandmother into the family business. A former convict working his way upward job by job, in the hopes of being First Mate. A thirty-eight year veteran engineer in no hurry to retire. An ancient waterway pulling a double shift as the backbone of a national economy; a tangle of thick steel cables, tied together just right. As long as the boat’s moving, they’re making money. An intimate portrait of the machinery of American ambitions.
Credits
- Directed by
- Ben Powell
- Produced by
- Ben Powell, Dave Schachter
- Edited by
- Ryan Gould
- Photography by
- Andrew Alden Miller, Ben Powell
- Music & Sound Design by
- Will Patterson
- Executive Producer
- Michael Watt
Film Festivals
- SXSW Film Festival (2015) - World Premiere
- Ashland Independent Film Festival (2015) - Honorable Mention
- Dallas International Film Festival (2015) - Grand Jury Prize Documentary Feature
- Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (2015)
- Indie Memphis Film Festival (2015) - Best Documentary Feature
- DOC NYC (2015)
- Crossroads Film Festival (2015) - Best Documentary Feature
- New Orleans Film Festival (2015)
- Independent Film Festival Boston (2015)
- Little Rock Film Festival (2015)
- Montclair Film Festival (2015)
- SF Documentary Festival (2015)
- RiverRun International Film Festival (2016)
- Cinema Eye Honors Nominee (2016)
Host a Screening
If you would like to set up a screening, please contact us.
Previous screenings include:
- Maiden Alley Cinema
- Paducah, KY
- Duke University
- Durham, NC
- Bologna Performing Arts Center
- Cleveland, MS
- Waterways Council Convention
- New Orleans, LA
- American Waterways Operators Convention
- St. Louis, MO
- Workboat Maintenance & Repair Conference and Expo
- New Orleans, LA
- Inland Marine Expo
- St. Louis, MO
Speaking Engagements
Ben Powell and other members of the film team are available for Q&As and lectures. Please send requests to our contact.
