Katrina Albright will be joining us with her film The Shrimper. Here are some questions to let you get to know more about her!

What is your connection to the South?

I lived in the South from ages 8-18 with my even-more-Southern little brother and Shrimper collaborator Nathan. Ian James, the third member of our tiny team, is probably the most polite Southern gentleman you’ll ever meet. Ask the two of them about their year hitchhiking from South Carolina to Morocco if you get the chance. The South is a place that feels both mysterious and familiar to me in a way I can’t really explain. It’s a place that’s host to a dense web of personal memories and emotions. I find myself returning again and again for inspiration.

Where did you get your inspiration for this work?

The Shrimper is one of a number of stories we captured in a week shooting in south Louisiana last summer. We were inspired by a friend from the area who makes portraits using tar balls collected from the 2010 BP oil spill, and some of the pushback he’s received from the oil industry in that part of the country. We wanted to explore a number of stories around the idea of the oil industry’s impact on the cultural output of the Gulf.

How did you start making films?

As kids, Nathan and I made a number of moving and timely early films, including an unauthorized doomsday/thriller Air Bud sequel starring our Golden Retriever, Zoe. The rest is history.

Did anything interesting or funny happen on set during the shooting?

We spent our week in the bayou crashing with some generous friends-of-friends who usually had to get up early for work. To wind down after long days shooting without keeping them up, we fell into the habit of driving around every night listening to the classic paranoia-fueled late night talk show Coast to Coast AM. By the end of the week the three of us were all pretty convinced we had Morgellons, planted by UFOs, using government contrails.

What do you look forward to the most during Indie Grits?

I look forward to catching up with friends I made last year in Columbia and seeing some great films!

Why should someone see your film?

If you like docs that explore the political through the lens of the personal, this little film is for you. Also, I bet you never knew how mesmerizing a shrimp drier could be. Come check us out!