Closed for Storm

Closed for Storm is just another example of how the bureaucracy of major corporations and government often leave citizens to pick up the pieces when hard to handle situations surface.

It's hard to believe that it has been 15+ years since Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the New Orleans area. It's even harder to believe that there are places like the former Six Flags New Orleans (Jazzland Park) that have sat untouched for the last decade and a half. Walls caked with mold, buildings graffitied, ride vehicles stripped of anything valuable, towering rollercoasters that look like they could collapse at any moment, and a sign that has fittingly read "Closed for Storm" have remained in place for the last 15 years. These are just some of the disheartening images Closed for Storm features.

In Closed for Storm, several people were interviewed about the abandoned park, each one nostalgic for what once was and what could have been. You can't help but feel the disappointment in a number of the interviewees' tones when it came time to talk about the redevelopment, or lack thereof, of the property. As mentioned, we see bureaucracy show itself near the end of the film when plans for redevelopment of the area appears to leave out the voices of the citizens of East New Orleans and ultimately leave them with no real resolve.

Not only was it sad to see the archived footage of people's homes destroyed in 2005, but it was just as sad seeing this same area struggling to bounce back all these years later. The citizens of East New Orleans were promised increased property values and a Disney-like atmosphere, but instead, they were left with views of an abandoned amusement park and a never-ending cycle of unimplemented redevelopment plans.

The Film: Closed for Storm is filled with aerial shots of the the former Six Flags New Orleans property, stitched together with home videos from the early 2000s. Much like Bright Sun Films' YouTube videos, we get an inside look at several of the abandoned buildings and observe the damage that Mother Nature has done. Promotional videos are the perfect touch for viewers unfamiliar with the park's significance or history to understand the importance of the former Jazzland. Like the sign that reads "Closed for Storm", the park is frozen in time with several of the office calendars still showing August 2005 as today's date.

In Closing: If you have ventured to this film from Bright Sun Films' YouTube page, you're a fan of theme parks, or you familiar with New Orleans/Jazzland history, then this film is perfect for you. For those of you who may not understand the history of Six Flags New Orleans, I would still highly recommend Closed for Storm. The film pieces new footage with old footage in a way that tells a proper story of the park and its history.

-The Documentary District-

I decided to buy this documentary both because I'm a huge fan of Bright Sun Films and because I'm a hardcore roller coaster enthusiast. I have had a huge interest in Jazzland/Six Flags New Orleans in the past and I couldn't pass this up when I found out it was being made.

Closed for Storm is an expertly made documentary with absolutely stunning drone footage of the abandoned park and the surrounding area. The cinematography is on point and the interview segments are very well done. I greatly enjoyed the storytelling of how the park was designed, built, operated and ultimately destroyed, and the historical footage provides a glimpse of the past and complements the interviews perfectly. Once we get to the Hurricane Katrina section it did tug on my heartstrings, with the footage of flooded homes, blazing fires and livelihood in ruin; I really felt for the people of New Orleans even though I was fairly young when the hurricane actually hit. I enjoyed the accounts by previous employees as well; they gave life to the park in a way that I had not considered before. This park employed hundreds of people and served as an escape for thousands in the area before Mother Nature came to remind everyone who was in charge. The soundtrack is also fantastic and it gave me chills on multiple occasions. I was really impressed overall by the documentary and I'm glad I pre-ordered it, if only to support one of my favorite YouTubers with his filmmaking endeavors. This documentary does not feel like an extended Bright Sun Films video, by the way - it's its own thing.

However, I do have a couple of issues with it. Number one is length - I feel like the documentary could have been 30 minutes shorter had some of the cinematic footage been cut; the footage of the theme park is great, but I found that there was a ton of unrelated footage that padded runtime and made the film unnecessarily long. At times I felt that this footage even took the place of a story, as it cut in at seemingly random times. This also goes for a few snippets of interview; although the vast majority of interview footage was necessary and interesting, there were a couple of times that I questioned if what I just heard was really needed to effectively tell the story.

This leads to my second issue, which is the story itself. The first half of the film is fantastic; it's essentially a chronological retelling of everything that happened with expertly filmed drone footage, historical video and interviews with people involved in the development and operation of the park. However, at about the halfway point or a little after, it started getting a bit messy. The timeline became unclear and it started getting into the nitty-gritty of two separate redevelopment plans that weren't ever finalized. Although this portion of the documentary did express how complicated the whole situation is and how indecisive the City of New Orleans is, I don't entirely think it was necessary to get into such detail with both of the plans; I think it would have been better to simply highlight any and all plans that have been proposed and/or rejected and make the documentary far shorter, ending it on a much stronger note than what was actually achieved.

Overall though, Closed for Storm is great. It's filled with breathtaking aerial footage of the abandoned park and interesting interviews that tell us the story of the development, operation and ultimate downfall of Six Flags New Orleans. The documentary does a superb job at conveying this through a mix of cinematic shots and urban exploration footage, similar to what you'd normally see on the Bright Sun Films YouTube channel. The urban exploration footage is very neat (although most of it was filmed at night with a flashlight for some reason) and I'm glad it was included as a supplement to the film. For the first attempt at a documentary by filmmaker Jake Williams, Closed for Storm is fantastic and I'd highly recommend checking it out.

PS: It would've been cool to see footage from on top of the rides or climbing up them, but maybe Jake is saving that for his YouTube channel ;)

I am a big fan of Bright Sun Films and have been anticipating this documentary since it's announcement.

However the film was sorta a let down for me and heres why:

1. The Interviewees

I found almost all the interviews to be lacking structure and the story's a bit dull. During the behind the scenes video they did express how difficult it was to find qualified people to interview and I definitely believe that would be a huge challenge on a topic like this.

The interviewees didn't really provide much insight into the actions/decisions made behind closed doors within Six Flags Corp. Ryan Bordenave however, was a fantastic speaker and storyteller of the events that unfolded.

I think the story was too focused on the old fun memories than on the hurricane/abandoned situation itself.

2. The Hurricane

I found the transition into the hurricane itself (president bushes address) super sudden with only the one interviewee mentioning it quickly. It didn't flow too well.

I was expecting most of the documentary to be footage/stories of the hurricane itself. However the footage of the storm only lasted a few mere minutes.

3. The Parks Decay

The lack of close up footage of the park decay and abandoned state really shocked me. There were a lot of fantastic drone shots but it was impossible to really see the overgrown/decay of the rides and buildings from above. There really should have been a lot of close up and jaw dropping B roll shots of the park.

During one part they were exploring a few of the buildings, but that was it. Not much exploring the rides or other areas of the park.

4. Ending Vote

I may not have picked up what was going on during the voting section at the end of the film but I didn't think it was clear what was actually happening. Who were these companies they were voting on? And what was the plan?

5. The Interview Camera Work

(This one is kinda a nitpick)

Being a videographer for many years myself I was really surprised on the style of camera shots they chose for the interviews. The vast majority of the shots had the background in almost clear focus with no depth of field. This may have been a personal choice but it is uncommon to see that shot style in films.

Conclusion

I know I was super harsh here but I really wanted to be honest of my thoughts on the film. This was a major achievement for Bright Sun Films and the team should be super proud! I'd still watch it again and recommend to my friends! Great work!

The score was also incredible! It really gave Toy Story vibes at times.

You know how sometimes you're with some casual friend, acquaintance or coworker, and they relate a story as if you know everything about their life and social group, when you mostly have no idea what they are talking about? That's one of the main weaknesses in this film. It feels like viewing random home movies. I say that having lived in Louisiana for longer than I ever thought I would, with multi-generational ties to New Orleans and it's surroundings. Nonetheless this is a pleasant enjoyable passion project that will be appealing to urban explorers and fans of childhood chimeras.

I couldnt begin to tell you who, how and why Jazz-land was ever built, and I lived there during the years when its inception was becoming a reality. It always sounded like a boondoggle to me. Coming out of the era of very high murder rates and economic malaise in the early- mid 90's, it must have taken people with extraordinary vision and tenacity to bring it to fruition, long before Katrina came along. That is certainly one story worth telling, not told here.

For to me the vast terrain of New Orleans East as observed from the roads and highways is a wasteland of broken dreams, consistent neglect and strange decade-specific civil planning experiments, one after the other abandoned in boom bust cycles, that are not visible in such stark relief in the more densely populated areas the city. It is geographically and metaphorically out of sight, out of mind for the rest of the city and suburbs. This documentary could be improved by rooting it in such geographical context, and support its positions with some input from area architectural historians, for a little grounding in objectivity, solving the film's problem without delving into the byzantine and arcane chicanery that got it open, and promptly forgot about it when an opportunity presented itself.

For the few years it was open, it was loved by the people that went, and profitable even as it was left to its own devices. That is the story that is attempted here, in its personal nostalgic tone of mourning for what was lost and might have been. I have seen these same post Katrina. Videos and snapshots, the mold and watermarks and the drone of insects buzzing in someone's abandoned office or home. A story that is told over and over in New Orleans, which never was and never will be The Big Easy for the people that call it home.

Very recently I have heard rumblings that it might revert to a natural park of some sort. There is much enthusiasm in New Orleans these days for streamlined light-handed reclamation of abandoned or not so abandoned properties to ecologically stable public use, along the lines of NYC's The Highline. I hope such enthusiasm is sustained beyond the current real estate bubble.

I am a retired "senior", I have seen and/or experienced many acts of nature over my lifetime. My fond expression, because it is true, "Mother Nature always wins in the long haul."

In the case of the new amusement park in New Orleans, opened as Jazzland in 2000, it didn't take very long. Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 pretty much did the deed as it did to much of the rest of New Orleans. The park has remained closed and abandoned since that time.

This documentary deals with all that, plus some recent years efforts to either rebuild it or re-purpose it but so far it still stands dilapidated, just a ghost of its short glory years. The title comes from a sign at the park's entrance which still says "Closed for Storm."

I found this documentary very interesting with interviews with many people, some video of the park when it was new and thriving, some current video of the ruins, and a view of New Orleans neighborhoods in the Katrina aftermath. What the documentary could have used was periodic subtitles that specified when, e.g. "June 2010" or "May 2020" to inform exactly when certain things were represented by the documentary. But overall pretty interesting. I have never visited the park but do remember driving by on I-10 headed east.

I found it on Amazon streaming videos.

UPDATE: March 8, 2023 - It was just announced that a deal has been made for a 4-year, $500 Million project to clean up the site and convert it into a brand new theme park. Most details are not yet available.