LI doc's film studies trauma survivors

Depression. Guilt. Fear. Anger.

Many people touched by tragedy are haunted by feelings like those. They often suffer alone, struggling to cope.

But sometimes, as with the attacks of 9/11 and devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the trauma is very public. The survivors' pain is discussed by the entire world.

Bellmore psychotherapist David Grand has produced a documentary that chronicles a cathartic journey to the Katrina disaster area with three trauma survivors from New York: a mother who lost her firefighter son on 9/11, an electrician severely injured in a 1997 accident while at work on the LIRR, and a nightclub performer who survived a 2003 bombing in Israel.

"This was sort of an experiment in group therapy - not by sitting around and talking about it, but by literally going to the site of the trauma," Grand said.

In early December 2005, he and his team set out on a 1,300-mile road trip from Long Island to Louisiana, three months after the hurricane ravaged New Orleans.

They left as strangers packed in a rented minivan, sometimes awakened with cameras in their faces. They spent a week touring the hardest-hit areas. They left having forged bonds that continue today.

"Come Hell or High Water," was funded by Lutheran Disaster Response of New York, a relief organization.

Rosemarie Foti, 70, of Manhattan, said talking with Katrina survivors was among the most therapeutic things she's done since losing her son Robert, a firefighter on the Lower East Side, on 9/11. The 43-year-old father of three died when the south tower collapsed.

When Katrina struck, Foti felt a strong yearning to help and protect the flood victims from some of the torment she endured. Like hundreds of 9/11 victims' families, she never recovered her son's remains.

"There's no such thing as closure. I never expected to get that out of the trip," Foti said.

In New Orleans, she met a man whose 8-year-old grandson died in the hurricane. It was among the most moving encounters she's ever had, she said.

" 'It's such a terrible thing that happened to you and the country, but you have to do the best you can to move on.' That's what I told him," she said.

Associate producer Russ Camarda of Lindenhurst, who did most of the film's camera work, said he could see how the New Yorkers instantly related to the people of New Orleans.

"There's something about being a wounded healer that resonates with another trauma survivor," he said. "Even though the circumstances are different and the details are different, there is something shared.

SEE THE FILM

"Come Hell or High Water" is premiering in the Queens World Film Festival.

WHEN: 9:15 a.m. Sunday

WHERE: Jackson Heights Cinema, 40-31 82nd St., Jackson Heights

TICKETS: $6 at the theater or at queensworldfilmfestival.com

INFORMATION: Laurie Delaney at lauriedela@aol.com or 516-826-7996