PORT ANGELES — The documentary “DamNation” opens with a birth: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicating Hoover Dam.
Then comes a rebirth: footage of Elwha Dam coming down to free the river during the $325 million Elwha River restoration project.
This 87-minute picture explores the sea change in this country, from pride in big dams to a new awareness of how river and human health are connected — and it is “a visually stunning film,” said Anne Shaffer, who with the Coastal Watershed Institute will host a showing of “DamNation” at 7 p.m. Friday.
The movie features Brenda Francis of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and former Olympic National Park Chief Ranger Chuck Janda, “and they are both brilliant,” Shaffer said.
“DamNation” will screen in the second-floor conference room of The Landing mall, 115 E. Railroad Ave.
$5 admission
Admission is a $5 donation toward the Coastal Watershed Institute.
“There are a number of excellent movies out right now that feature the Elwha; ‘Return of the River’ is a beautiful film specifically about the Elwha,” Shaffer noted, referring to the documentary Jessica Plumb and John Gussman released earlier this year.
“’DamNation’ is a broader view — . . . about dams, their impact on our culture and tribal devastation — and lays the basis for the groundswell for the ‘deadbeat dam’ movement,” Shaffer added.
Chinook and steelhead are also stars of this movie: They’re seen below the Elwha’s surface thanks to a snorkeler’s camera, and above the water, leaping into the Salmon Cascades on the undammed Sol Duc River.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is the executive producer of the film, which also travels to California’s Hetch Hetchy Valley, Arizona’s Glen Canyon, Oregon’s North Umpqua River and Alaska’s Susitna River, where a dam is proposed.
To watch the “DamNation” trailer and find out more about the production, visit www.DamNationfilm.com. For more about the institute, visit www.CoastalWatershedInstitute.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
