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Friday, September 04, 2009

Updated: "Waterlife" documentary to be shown Sept. 9 at MTU

HOUGHTON -- The Great Lakes are many things: bodies of water, sources of life, stories and poems. Waterlife, a film that follows the flow of the water in the Great Lakes from the Nipigon River to the Atlantic Ocean, captures the significance of the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes ecosystem in a compelling, feature-length documentary.

Michigan Tech's Center for Water and Society is sponsoring a free showing of the film at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, in Dow 641.* The film has only been shown once before in Michigan, at the Traverse City Film Festival.

Using both documentary footage and computer imaging, Waterlife begins in the primeval forests of Lake Superior's northern coast, makes a stop at the baroque fountains of Chicago on Lake Michigan, continues to the rain-swept streets of Detroit and beyond, all the while examining how the greatest body of fresh water on Earth transforms the societies it passes through and is transformed by them.

"The film's goal is to take viewers on a tour of an incredibly beautiful ecosystem that is facing complex challenges," say the filmmakers. "Beyond that, our hope is that Waterlife will bring viewers a visceral understanding of the element that is so integral to all of our lives."

Narrated by Gordon Downie, of the rock band The Tragically Hip, the film features music by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno.

*Update: Please note the change of location since our earlier posting.

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