Desire

Completed just before Hurricane Katrina, Desire offers a poignant perspective on the complicated dynamics of gender, class, and race in New Orleans. Collaborating with filmmaker Julie Gustafson for five years -- two girls from the Desire public housing project, a working-class single mother and two girls from a prestigious high school -- make intimate videos about their changing lives. Weaving these short films into a larger narrative, Gustafson creates a portrait of young women whose desires and choices are profoundly shaped by their family, social, and economic backgrounds.