GALVESTON, Texas — A new documentary film on Galveston, its history and response to Hurricane Ike will premiere on Houston’s PBS station Monday night.
"Galveston Island" will include interviews filmed at The Grand 1894 Opera House with longtime residents recalling tales of the gambling days of the 1950s and other stories.
The documentary also gives a firsthand look at Galveston after Hurricane Ike, which swept in shortly after filming had started in 2008.
"The main theme is the resiliency of people who live there, who choose to call an island their home and know that this danger lurks out there," said producer Kim Lykins, speaking by phone from her Houston office.
"As one of our interviewees says, ‘That’s the price of living in paradise — you know that the danger is out there and you just have to put up with it every once in a while.’"
Texas Foundation for the Arts began laying plans for the documentary four years ago, after producer Jim Bailey saw a film on New Orleans.
"I kept thinking that Galveston is just as interesting," Bailey said. "It’s a story not often told."
Filming began in the summer of 2008, with the aim of producing a companion piece to a Houston PBS program on immigration through the port of Galveston.
Both documentaries would be televised close to the opening of the traveling museum exhibit, "Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island," in Houston in the fall of 2010.
"When we started the project, our working title was ‘What I like About Galveston,’" Lykins said.
Cameras first focused on the annual sand castle contest.
But then, Hurricane Ike hit Galveston.
"It completely changed the focus of what we were doing," Lykins said. "We were then able to really show the island rebuilding and the resiliency of everybody."
Bailey and a small crew filmed on location with a single camera, and also set up two cameras to film interviews on the stage of The Grand 1894 Opera House, which survived both the 1900 Storm and Hurricane Ike.
"There are so many wonderful camera angles," Bailey said. "Galveston itself is like one big movie set. Everywhere you look is this wonderful light."
The film crew recorded both old and new stories of the island as they watched Galveston begin rebuilding after the hurricane.
"We had to struggle to keep it to an hour program," Lykins said.
"There are so many stories; we could do an entire series, and still have plenty to say."
This story was brought to you thanks to khou.com's partnership with The Galveston County Daily News.
