Watch Anytime • Virtual Screening Room: CHEHALIS: A WATERSHED MOMENT: POST-FILM Q&A w/ SHANE ANDERSON & JESSE CLARK

Available to your home theater through the Olympia Film Society
Streaming tickets now available!
Post-film Q&A w/ directors Shane Anderson and Jesse Andrew Clark

The future of the Washington state’s most diverse river hangs by a thread. Faced with worsening floods and a prized salmon population on the brink of extinction, a changing climate can no longer be ignored. On Dec. 3. 2007 the Chehalis river valley experienced a catastrophic flood like never before, marking the 4th major flood in 30 years and the resurgence of long-standing interest in building a flood retention dam.As the region prepares to pursue possible solutions with a combination of infrastructure and restorative design, this wild salmon stronghold faces rising water temperatures and a 100-year legacy of habitat degradation. The dam efforts have also caused diverse stakeholders, including the Confederated Tribes of Chehalis, Quinault Indian Nation and Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife to undertake massive scientific investigation in order to learn more about this little known basin and its fragile habitat. If no action is taken, the prized spring Chinook population will stay on trajectory toward extinction in coming years. Climate change is on the doorstep of this rural American Watershed, with models also predicting a 20% increase in storm intensity and rising water temperatures over the next 60 years. Can diverse communities and cultures across the basin find common ground to solve the crises of increasing floods, droughts and the plight of an iconic species?

Dir: Shane Anderson / 2020 / US / 56 min

ABOUT DIRECTOR SHANE ANDERSON:
Shane Anderson is an award winning documentary filmmaker based out of Olympia, Washington. In addition to owning North Fork Studios, Shane also works as the director of storytelling for Pacific Rivers, a river conservation organization based out of Portland, Oregon. Shane is a former professional downhill skier and his interest in film began in 1998; he worked in the film and television industry in Los Angeles for eight years before studying fisheries biology at Humboldt State University where he decided to merge his love of the outdoors and conservation with visual storytelling. In 2014 he completed his first feature documentary feature “Wild Reverence” and has since produced Behind The Emerald Curtain, A River’s Last Chance, Run Wild Run Free and is finalizing production on Chehalis: A Watershed Moment. Four of Shanes films have aired on PBS.

ABOUT JESSE CLARK:
Jesse is a DP and filmmaker whose work has emphasized social and environmental issues for the past decade. His work has been featured on Discovery, Adult Swim, and Comedy Central, and his visual contributions can be seen in both documentary and narrative films. Jesse’s aim is always to connect us with each other, our planet, and ourselves by inspiring awe and wonder through the big screen.