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 Phoebe Ferguson (Director/Producer) a native of New Orleans, attended Art Center College of Design and spent twenty years as an advertising photographer in New York City before turning to documentary film in 2001. After studying with Marco Williams, George Stoney and Jennifer Fox at NYU, she produced two short films before turning her attention to her hometown. After researching the history of Mardi Gras and New Orleans for two years, she embarked on her project, MEMBER OF THE CLUB, a feature length documentary exploring one of New Orleans’s oldest traditions of presenting young black women into society.
Phoebe was born in New Orleans and lived there until the age of ten. Her family has been in New Orleans since 1865 and has participated religiously in the carnival traditions of the city. She returned to make her debut in 1978 with the club her father belonged to. After twenty-five years in New York City, she has once again made New Orleans her home and is relishing all that that entails.
Hurricane Katrina has given new meaning to the way of life depicted in this film. MEMBER OF THE CLUB presents a unique look into a world rarely glimpsed by those who are not members. Like so many other aspects of New Orleans life, this world is threatened with extinction. The families in MEMBER OF THE CLUB lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. Many do not know if they can ever return. After two years struggling to locate members, fix their houses here and find a new location for the ball, the Original Illinois Club has now returned to continue their 109-year-old tradition of presenting young African-American women into society.
Making this film has allowed me to cross borders and build lasting relationships that were practically unimaginable given the strict lines that delineate the distinctly separate worlds of the black and white social clubs of New Orleans. |
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