Film crew to show documentary about Stikine

Wrangell residents are invited to preview a short film and presentation on the Stikine River at the Nolan Center, at 6 p.m. March 11.

The film had been put together last autumn by a film crew with Inside Passage Waterkeeper, a Juneau affiliate of the International Water Keeper Alliance launched by Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

Their ten-minute film is entitled “Water is Life: The Stikine River,” with the tagline “Our Water Knows No Boundaries.”

“We plan on showing it next week,” said Daven Hafey, the short film’s director and producer. It was shown previously to a limited audience in Juneau for the purpose of gathering feedback before premiering there yesterday along with two other films. Hafey explained they intend to show their film in Wrangell at least twice this year, as well as in Petersburg.

“We’re really excited to show it to the community that was so gracious to us,” he said.

Next Wednesday’s program will open with a brief introduction about the project, and IPWK’s film will be preceded by a four-minute film on the Stikine put together by a National Geographic videographer. Afterward, there will be a question and answer session.

The project was Hafey’s directorial debut.

“It was great,” he said of the experience. The team got a lot of footage of the Stikine River itself, and the only difficulty was deciding how best to use it. “It was time-consuming, it took us quite a while. But it wasn’t challenging.”

Hafey explained the intention of their project was to seek out people who live along Southeast’s transboundary rivers and have them explain why the water is important to them.

“It was amazing how open people were with us,” Hafey said. “They got to tell their story, share their stories with us.”

The film ties living on the Stikine River to the larger issue of mining upstream of transboundary waters, and the potential effects the Red Chris mine in British Columbia could have on lifestyles downstream. However, Hafey has said they steer clear of any politics.

“I’m very happy with it,” he said of their film.

For more information about IPWK, visit http://www.insidepassagewaterkeeper.org or call 586-6942.