Cane River 1982 Written, produced, and directed by the late Emmy Award winning Horace B Jenkins, financed by New Orleans Rhodes family, and crafted by an entirely African American cast and crew CANE RIVER is a historically informed love story set in Louisianas Natchitoches Parish, a free community of color Aspiring writer and hopeless romantic Peter former athlete and scion of an elite Creole family returns to his hometown and immediately falls for a breathtaking historical tour guide, Maria Marias disenfranchised, darker skinned family disapprove of Peters family and condemn their burgeoning romance while highlighting the painful legacy of colorism in their tightly knit community The lovers must work through Peters contentious family legacy as privileged, former slave owning, light skinned Creoles if they want their romance to survive