Synopsis
Ironton, Louisiana, located in Plaquemines Parish, traces its history back to emancipation, with many of the community’s founders having once been enslaved at nearby St. Rosalie Plantation. Their descendants have remained in the area, maintaining a community despite decades of racial segregation and economic injustice. “Iron Sharpens Iron” a new documentary directed by independent filmmaker John Richie and produced by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, captures Ironton’s struggles against racism, industrial encroachment and extreme weather.
“Iron Sharpens Iron” chronicles Ironton’s fight against the development of the Plaquemines Liquids Terminal (PLT) atop the community’s ancestral burial grounds, as well as the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ida. Richie traveled to Ironton before and after Ida’s onslaught, recording local takes on the community’s history, the plans for the PLT and the storm’s devastation. These residents, speaking for themselves, form the core of the project and show viewers both why people have chosen to stay in Ironton and the difficulties they face in remaining for another generation. “Iron Sharpens Iron” looks at a Louisiana community at a pivotal moment in its history, one that nonetheless looks like much of its past: discounted and unaided, it endures.
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