‘Water Keepers’ documentary to be shown at various local venues
courtesy photo
CSKT Communications Director Robert McDonald fields questions about “The Water Keepers,” which debuted at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Casey Ryan stands to his left. Both McDonald and Ryan were the film’s co-producers.
courtesy photo
Documentary co-producer Casey Ryan fields questions from the audience at the Big Sky Film Festival held recently in Missoula. Director Daniel Glick stands on stage as well.
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“The Water Keepers,” a documentary film that chronicles the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ groundbreaking water-measurement program, will be shown at Ninepipes Lodge on March 18.
The 6 p.m. showing is part of the Conservation Speaker Series held at the lodge, sponsored by the Lake County Conservation District. Admission is free.
Plans are also underway for a viewing in Polson on March 26. Admission will be $5. Watch for more details. Earlier, the film was shown March 6 in Pablo at the Arlee/Charlo Theater.
The 21-minute film debuted Feb. 22 at the Wilma Theatre in downtown Missoula as one of eight finalists in the Big Sky Award Competition. The debut was “wonderful,” said Robert McDonald, CSKT communications director. “We received a very warm and enthusiastic response.”
That the film was selected as a finalist “is an honor unto itself,” McDonald said. “‘The ‘Water Keepers’ was honored to be named as a potential award winner.”
He explained that those recipients often get a graphic of a laurel, which “The Water Keepers” received. “When you see big films that get selected for Sundance or Cannes film festivals, you often see all their laurels on the trailer introduction screen.”
Over four decades, tribal scientists installed and maintained a comprehensive network of stream gages across the Flathead Reservation, replacing theoretical projections with measurable data, McDonald said.
“That scientific record ultimately laid the groundwork for the CSKT Water Compact – a landmark water rights settlement approved by the Montana Legislature, ratified by Congress and signed into law in 2020,” he said. “While the compact became one of the most scrutinized measures in Montana legislative history, the film reveals how its success rested on decades of disciplined measurement demonstrating how water truly moves through the landscape.”
The film was directed by Daniel Glick, whose previous work includes “In the Spirit of Atatice: The Untold Story of the National Bison Range.” Producers included tribal members Robert McDonald and Casey Ryan.
“The Water Keepers” features the voices of CSKT leaders, technicians and scientists who helped build and sustain the water-measurement program over four decades and whose work shaped the future of water management in the region.
