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Documentary Following Kayakers in the L.A. River Premieres Tomorrow
There's something extremely exciting about this documentary. A group of activists in 2008 went out to Los Angeles River and kayaked it from the Valley to the Ocean--that's about 51 miles--challenging the government's contention that, save for less than four miles, it is not a navigable waterway, therefore ineligible to fall within the Clean Water Act. Here's how the filmmakers describe it:
“Rock the Boat” follows a controversial and surreal boating expedition down the cemented-in Los Angeles River and looks at how the ‘city of dreams’ turned into nightmare sprawl due to our history of using, managing and re-working nature in a single-minded quest for 'more'. (Think Huckleberry Finn meets "Chinatown"). "Rock the Boat" is about how we found paradise, lost it, and might re-claim it. By turning the LA River into a vibrant focal point of LA, as many are now envisioning, this ever-expanding city might be again alive with hope and dreams, while becoming almost completely locally reliant for its water supply.
The film features amazing photography from Tom Andrews who spent three days following the kayakers throughout the city for LAist. You can see those photos on LAist here, here and here. Featured in the documentary is George Wolfe of the LaLa Times, Joe Linton of LA Creek Freak and Melanie Winter of the The River Project, among others.
The free premiere is tomorrow at 9 p.m. at the Electric Lodge in Venice, according to the production company's e-mail newsletter.
Also, Watch This: Heather and Goliath is a short documentary about one of the Rock the Boat's subjects who got in trouble for kayaking the river.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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