GLIN==> Timely documentary helps environmental groups rally support for Great Lakes restoration

Timely documentary helps environmental groups rally support for Great Lakes
restoration

“Waterlife” opens June 5 in Toronto at the Varsity & Canada Square

 

 

Toronto, June 3, 2009 –This is a crucial year for the Great Lakes. U.S.
President Barack Obama has proposed to pump $475 million into Great Lakes
restoration and Canada and the United States are under mounting pressure to
renegotiate the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Kevin McMahon’s
award-winning documentary Waterlife could be instrumental in rallying public
support for both initiatives.

 

Winner of the Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature at the Hot Docs film
festival, Waterlife is a stunning documentary that tells the story of the
last great reserve of fresh surface water on Earth. Under assault by toxins,
sewage, invasive species and dropping water levels, many scientists believe
the Great Lakes are on the verge of ecological collapse. Innovatively shot,
the film shows the lakes as they might appear to a seagull, a fish or a
water molecule. Says director Kevin McMahon, “We made Waterlife to help our
neighbours – among the 35 million people who live on the lakes
what we stand
to lose here is not something ‘out there’ in nature, but the very lifeblood
of our existence."

 

Environmental groups, including Great Lakes United and Sierra Club Canada
hope the film can help draw public attention to the issue of water in
general, and the Great Lakes in particular.

 

“Waterlife translates into images a story told too often with facts,
figures, and numbers. To truly understand how powerful–and especially
vulnerable–the Great Lakes are, you must see them and you must experience
them,” says Brent Gibson, Director of Communications for Great Lakes United.
“We do not stand up to protect the world’s single largest freshwater
resource because a report says we must, but rather because we feel a
fundamental connection and responsibility. Waterlife is about brushing away
complacency and pressing for action to protect an ailing ecosystem.” 

 

The film introduces us to some amazing characters - among them Josephine
Mandamin an Anishinaabe grandmother from Thunder Bay who walked around the
Great Lakes to raise interest in their plight; Douglas Martz, a man whose
lakefront property now borders on a field thanks to sewer overflows; and the
Aamjiwnaang community—located near Sarnia, Ontario—who are wondering if
their proximity to several petrochemical plants has any connection to their
abnormally high ratio of girls to boys in recent years.

 

Protheus Goodchild, an Anishinaabe elder who lives on the north shore of
Superior, put it succinctly, “the world is like a human body, the water is
our blood. Everybody knows what happens when you put poison in your blood.”

 

"I’ve lived on the Great Lakes my whole life,” says director Kevin McMahon.
“It’s easy for me to imagine the lakes in their pre-industrial, primeval
state and to understand that their water runs through my veins.” 

 

The film is executive produced by The Corporation’s Mark Achbar who says:
"It is a rare privilege to be able to help realize a film of this caliber,
importance, and elegance. It's a stunning piece of work, made by one of
Canada's most accomplished filmmakers at the top of his game." 

 

Waterlife is being released in Canada by Mongrel Media.

 

 <http://www.ourwaterlife.com/> www.ourwaterlife.com
<http://www.ourwaterlife.com>

 

Waterlife opens in Toronto Friday, June 5th at the following theatres:

Varsity (55 Bloor Street West)

Canada Square (2190 Yonge St.)

 

Director, Kevin McMahon and Great Lakes United Executive Director, Derek
Stack, will be attending the 6:50pm screening at the Varsity on June 5 to
discuss the film and local water initiatives. 

 

Representatives from Pollution Probe and Sierra Club Canada will be
discussing their Great Lakes initiatives and holding a Q&A following the
6:50pm screening at the Varsity on Saturday, June 6.

 

Waterlife also opens in Vancouver on June 19.

 

CREDITS: 

Produced by Primitive Entertainment in co-production with the National Film
Board of Canada. Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada in
association with Big Picture Media Corporation, NHK, Sundance Channel,
Canwest Global with the assistance of  the Canwest-Hot Docs Completion Fund
and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.

 

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Kevin McMahon • NARRATED BY Gord Downie of The
Tragically Hip • PRODUCED BY Kristina McLaughlin & Michael McMahon •
PRODUCER FOR THE NFB Gerry Flahive • EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Mark Achbar, Betsy
Carson , Michael McMahon , Silva Basmajian (NFB) • COMMISSIONING EDITOR
Michael Kot  • CINEMATOGRAPHER John Minh Tran • EDITOR Christopher Donaldson
• SOUND DESIGNER Grant Edmonds • SOUND RECORDIST Sanjay Mehta • SOUND MIXER
Martin Lee • PRODUCTION MANAGER • Kim Creelman • VISUAL EFFECTS DESIGN •
Mark Alberts • With music by Sam Roberts, The Allman Brothers, Dropkick
Murphys, Sufjan Stevens, Kurt Swinghammer, Sigur Ros, Robbie Robertson,
Phillip Glass, Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno and The Tragically Hip.

 

—    30 —

*sorry, there are no screeners for this film

 

For more information or to book interviews, please contact:

 

Colette Gunson / Good Company Communications

T. 778-228-6779 / E.  <mailto:colette at hellocoolworld.com>
colette at hellocoolworld.com

 

Interviews available with: 

Kevin McMahon, Director, Waterlife

Josephine Mandamin, Anishinaabe Waterwalker 

Brent Gibson, Director of Communications, Great Lakes United

Celeste Côté, National Water Campaigner, Sierra Club Canada

 

About The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA), first signed in 1972 and
renewed in 1978, expresses the commitment of Canada and the United States to
restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the
Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem and includes a number of objectives and
guidelines to achieve these goals. It reaffirms the rights and obligation of
Canada and the United States under the Boundary Waters Treaty. (Cited from
Environment Canada: http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/greatlakes/default.asp?lang=En
<http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/greatlakes/default.asp?lang=En&n=FD65DFE5-1>
&n=FD65DFE5-1 )

 

 

____________________________________

Brent Gibson

Director, Communications

Great Lakes United

(613) 867-9861

 <mailto:bgibson at glu.org> bgibson at glu.org |  <http://www.glu.org/>
www.glu.org

 

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