Social Scene

‘The Big Uneasy’

By Georgetowner • October 21, 2010 0 1320

Harry Shearer with Dr. Ivor van Heerden | Mary Bird

Harry Shearer, best known for his voice work on “The Simpsons” and his role in “This is Spinal Tap,” is a New Orleans resident. Prior to its national release on Aug. 11, Newseum Press Pass members were invited to a special reception and screening of his new film “The Big Uneasy.” On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, his feature-length documentary exposes the flaws that led to the flooding of the levees and which have not been addressed in the current reconstruction process. The evening included a spirited conversation between Shearer and Dr. Ivor van Heerden, former deputy director of LSU’s Hurricane Center, whose warnings of an imminent disaster went unheeded. — Mary Bird