Trouble the Water fills the cover of the New York Times Arts section this morning. Manohla Dargis calls it “One of the best American documentaries in recent memory,” and one of the strongest films in this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films, by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.

Read all of Voice, Eyes and Camera of Katrina Survivors.

Or listen to New York Times audiocast available below:

Blogger, director of the Smart Growth program at NRDC, and recent Regional Equity ‘08 attendee Kaid Benfield shares his reaction to Trouble the Water.

At this point, I bet I’ve seen a half-dozen such films, but this one is the best.

What sets it apart is that it tells the story from the inside out, and from the point of view of a single remarkable couple, Kimberly Rivers Roberts and Scott Roberts, who were stuck in their home Ninth Ward during the storm, hanging on to rowboats and rooftops and trying to help their neighbors, while recording on a home camcorder that Kim had bought on the street for $20 just days before.

Read it all on NRDC’s blog, SWiTCHBOARD.

Related: Summit attendees get a sneak peek at Sundance-winning Katrina documentary