Upstream Battle

Saturday night I went to a showing of a documentary on the Klamath River called Upstream Battle, directed by a German filmmaker Ben Kempas. (watch trailer here) It's North American premier was at the prestigious Toronto Int'l Film Festival last fall and has been making it's way through the film circuits until it could finally be screened in the Klamath Basin where it was filmed. It was a very well done film, following members of the Native American tribes of the Klamath River (Yurok, Karuk, Hoopa, Klamath) along their journey that includes their trip to Scotland to protest against Scottish Power who owned the company that operated the 4 hyrdro dams along the river. It tells the story of their culture, their struggles to maintain their livelihood and save the salmon and the water quality of the river they depend upon. The farming and ranching culture upstream above the dams and PacifiCorp's interests are also addressed.


(from Upstream Battle website)


There were only about 15 people there watching it (sponsored by the Klamath Riverkeeper group), but the director himself was there to answer questions and at the end of the 90-minute film, Richard Myers, one of the Yurok tribe members who was featured prominently in the film walked in the door with his wife and they fielded questions as well. One of the funniest anecdotes she shared was about the part where her husband is shown cutting and deboning and preparing a salmon for smoking. She laughed when she first saw the film because she's the one always preparing the fish and smoking it, not him! Sure, he knows how and does it well, but she's the one that does the majority of the time!


(from Upstream Battle website)

Another insight that the filmmaker shared was at previous showings, people commented on how convincing some of the re-enactments were. Ben's response, "What re-enactments? It was all real! None of it was staged!" He went on to explain that he would follow the story closely and would try to be in the area when a big event would be announced. One instance where Merv George is reading his morning paper, Ben actually got there first and was casually filming breakfast waiting for Merv to read a particular article in order to get his response.

Also, I was impressed that PacifiCorp was on board with the filmmaking. The first time PacifiCorp was approached I guess they said no, but later they asked Mr. Kempas for examples of his other work, etc and decided to go along with it. I think it really gave the movie a more authentic balanced feel. It would feel much more one-sided without that element.

It was as artsy and film-festival activist-y I'd felt in a long time, and it was simply a lowly conference room with laptop and projector. It sure made me miss Silver Springs AFI Theater....

Anyway, I'm not sure where it's playing beyond May (It's in Santa Cruz on Monday May 11th. After that Vancouver BC) or when it will available on TV or DVD, but check out the website and see. Of course there are many parts of the very complicated issues surrounding the Klamath River and dam removal that couldn't be addressed in one film. This one simply follows the story of the tribes that traveled to Scotland and caught the interest of the European audience for whom the film was originally geared toward. As the director said, even the limited characters and issue information that made the final cut was almost too complicated for a non-American audience to grasp. I highly recommend it if you can find an opportunity to view it.