Tales of the San Joaquin Revision and Tulare Lake
Click here to ask for more information about this project:
Images
Tulare Lake, California, Date 1900, the last year the lake existed
Tulare Lake, California, Date 2010, from video footage
San Joaquin River, California, dry since 1950, from Fresno Bee
San Joaquin River, California, restoration begins 2010, from Fresno Bee
Website
Topics
Economy: Business, Consumption
Environment: Animals, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Environmental Activism, Rivers, Soils
Human Development: Agriculture, Education, Fisheries, Food, Labor, Land, Poverty, Water/Sanitation
Human Rights: Indigenous Rights
Project Geography
US: National
International: North America
Identity Niches
Budget
Raised to date: $65,000.00
Estimate to complete: $35,000.00
Total Estimated Budget: $100,000.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 02/18/2010
Status
Post Production
Media Type
Video
Project End Use
Other: Film Festivals, Theatrical, Television, Educational
Key Personnel
Christopher Beaver
Christopher Beaver produces and directs multi-media projects concerned with the human experience of the environment. These include works devoted to freedom of expression and human rights, as well as films more traditionally identified as environmental films. This broad definition is meant to embrace the spectrum of human experience — how we as human beings interact with the world around us andwith each other.
Among his films are: Dark Circle, a feature documentary on the nuclear arms race, winner of a National Emmy award and a Certificate of Merit from the Academy Awards documentary committee; Treasures of the Greenbelt and Secrets of the Bay about San Francisco Bay and its surrounding open countryside; Between Dreams and History, a portrait of the artist Shimon Attie; and most recently, Tales of the San Joaquin about California’s Central Valley, a nominee for the Pare Lorentz Award presented by the International Documentary Association.
In addition to film production he has created several multi-media photographic exhibits, among them: Nagasaki Journey which focused on the photographs of Yosuke Yamahata taken in Nagasaki the day after that city was destroyed by an atomic bomb and Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography, which detailed the life andwork of a photographer who used his photographs for environmental activism.
Against this backdrop, Christopher has also written and directed for the theater, most notably Picturing Dorothea, a biography of the New Deal photographer, Dorothea Lange, best known for her Depression-era image entitled The Migrant Mother.
Christopher graduated from Harvard University cum laude witha degree in government, followed by a Masters Degree in Film and Broadcasting from Stanford University. He has been the recipient of MacDowell and Guggenheim Fellowships.
Current projects include Tulare Lake, A Story of Water, People, and Land, and two pieces of video journalism for the Center for Investigative Reporting on poisoned drinking water in California's Central Valley, a problem considered the number one threat to drinking water across the entire planet.
Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)
One note: the website reference shows only Tales of the San Joaquin and other films I've produced or co-produced. I have purposely omitted Tulare Lake to protect the privacy and anonymity of the film's production. During its production and first release, Tales of the San Joaquin was attacked by right-wing members of the US Congress. I felt more secure producing Tulare Lake without publicity. My participation in the Media Database breaks this mold because I am so close to finishing the film.
Outreach and engagement will follow the pattern my films have followed to great success and influence: first showings will be at film festivals, premiere target the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City; special event theatrical screenings such as at the Rafeal Film Center, San Rafael, CA; then showings on Television, nationally if possible but certainly regionally within California and the West; and educational/DVD distribution nationally through www.greenplanetfilms.org. Community support will include showings sponsored by groups such as The Bay Institute and individual spokespeople on these issues.
Funders
| Name | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nancy Kittle | $5,000.00 | 06/15/2007 | |
| The Christensen Fund | $60,000.00 | 01/01/2007 |
Location
PO Box 396
Sausalito, CA, 94966
Short Synopsis
Two environmental films filled with hope: Tales of the San Joaquin Revision, the total success story of the contemporary restoration of the San Joaquin River after an eighteen-year lawsuit; and Tulare Lake, the prospects for restoring what was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River.
Description/Treatment
Here is the hope. The eternal question asked of every environmental filmmaker is, where is the hope? The companion films for which I'm seeking completion funding are both examples of honest hope. Tales of the San Joaquin (54 min.) tells the story of the 350-mile San Joaquin River in California's Central Valley. Water diversion for agriculture turned the river into a perpetual desert in 1950, thus destroying the most fertile habitat for salmon in the Central Valley and all the culture, fishing, and job that vanished with the destruction. The revised film will tell the tale of this destruction and show the remarkable restoration of the river, documenting the first flows of water to be released into the river channel following an eighteen-year lawsuit to restore the fiver. The restoration is taking place right at this moment as I'm writing this. All the film for the revision has been shot. We just require a modest amount of finishing funds. Tulare Lake (54 min.) continues the story of environmental restoration in California and among the stories told in the film includes Native Americans, Spanish-speaking farm workers, an archaeologist, a high-level farm consultant, a naturalist, and a writer. Tulare Lake is in the final stages of editing and requires only modest completion funds.Click here to ask for more information about this project: