subvenire
At the intersection of three of the last wild rivers of North America, in an area known as the Sacred Headwaters, a battle is underway with Royal Dutch Shell to halt proposed coalbed methane development that threatens the fragile ecosystem and a way of life that depends on it. In Awakening the Skeena soft-spoken local resident, Ali Howard, embarks on a 26-day mission to swim the entire 610 km length of the Skeena River and, at the same time, engage people who live within the watershed in a dialog about their future. Beginning at the very birthplace of the river, through a raw and unspoiled landscape few have ever seen, past First Nations villages along the river and eventually joining with the Pacific Ocean, her remarkable journey is an inspiring story of one person’s effort to rally the people of the Skeena to stand up for their river.
Ali Howard’s livelihood depends, to some degree, on the vitality of the Skeena River and the pristine forests along its banks, so when Big Oil moves in with designs on methane gas exploration, she decides to do something about it. Inspired by the moxie of world-renowned river swimmer, Martin Strel (star of BIG RIVER MAN, CIFF Doc Soup 2009), Howard decides that the appropriate course of action is grassroots activism: she’s going to swim all 610 kms of the Skeena. During her month-long adventure – from the frigid trickle at the source of the Skeena through the white-water canyons and temperate rainforests to the Pacific Ocean – Ali gets by with a little help from her friends. Filmmaker Andrew Eddy captures this road trip of awareness, creating a film that is not only a document of Ali’s journey, but a stunning visual argument of a rugged and beautiful wilderness worth saving. -BDG