20/04/2022
Going Deeper
At last night's CSU showing of "Watering the West: It All Starts Here" I kept thinking of MaryLou Smith formerly of the Colorado Water Center and founder of the collaborative group, Poudre Runs Through It. MaryLou was instrumental in bringing this film back into production after many doors closed in the water resources world. People didn't trust us to tell their stories. Some people in the water and river world didn't trust us to tell their stories because we were seeking the opinions of people with different perspectives. That was around 2015 or 2016 and MaryLou had seen our previous independent film, "Desplazado". She knew from that work that we could represent multiple viewpoints. Prior to MaryLou reaching out to me (through Gailmarie Kimmel who told her about the project) the film was on hold. I had even asked Werner Herzog at Telluride International Film Fest that year, "How do I tell this story when people with different perspectives won't talk to me?" Herzog said, "Tell the side you have." I ignored his advice.
If you saw "It All Starts Here" and you didn't see yourself represented, you may not think that I ignored this great film master's advice. But if you see the second film, "Wanna Buy a Farm?" you will see that I did. MaryLou encouraged us to think bigger than controversy over water. We all know that exists. MaryLou said people would begin to talk to us again if we were willing to just hang out and learn. So she invited Mona Maser and I to the Poudre River Forum, and we went two years in a row--in Fort Collins, then in Greeley. And we hung out. We listened, we learned, we met people. We met Bruce Johnson and his son Rob, and again Brian Werner, and Dale Trowbridge. We found out that people are complex. One has an oil well on his property and also gives money to the Nature Conservancy. Farmers, ranchers, city folks, ditch managers are all just trying to survive and thrive, like all of us. So I hope, that if you didn't see yourself in "It All Starts Here" that you will come see "Wanna Buy a Farm?" tomorrow (April 21st) at The Lyric to go deeper. And if you loved Film 1 ("It All Starts Here") that you will come see another perspective, one closer to home, about growing cities buying farms for the water, and the push-pull between conservation and reservoir building. We promise that the "characters" are endearing and complex, and whether this matches your beliefs or not, you will see yourselves here. So come hang out with us, as we did with MaryLou so many years ago--and listen, and learn, and meet people you may not otherwise have a chance to know. Because what we all have in common is our shared humanity--we are all just trying to do our best in this crazy complex world.
https://lyriccinema.com/ #/checkout/showing/521683
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