The Water Lords
The Water Lords is a 40-minute apocumentary on the rise & demise of the largest collection of freshwater on the planet, the Great Lakes. When you were growing up, did they ever teach you about the massacre of the Ho-Chunk people? Or that in the early 1800s almost all Native people east of the Mississippi River were forced to leave their homeland forever? Did you learn about the latent radioactive releases from nuclear plants into the land & water surrounding the plants? Do you live in a fallout zone? Did you ever hear about the largest inland oil spill in U.S. History? Does a pipeline run through your hometown?
Watch, wonder, and wake up.
Filmed & Edited by Colin T. Cederna
Jacob Griffin as Weezy – check out his music -
Drone Footage shot by Sky King Media from Saline, MI -
Music:
• Zach Kondak -
• Preyas Roy
• Ashley Jackson out of New York on the harp -
• Colin Cederna singing over Bad Television’s #hewasaskingforit – mixed together by Jesse Flewelling -
Interviewees in Order:
• Dr. Dorene Wiese of Chicago -
• Jessie Pauline Collins of Detroit -
• Joe DeMare of Bowling Green, Ohio
• Jessica Thompson of Marquette, MI -
• Loreen Niewenhuis of Battle Creek, MI -
• Cheryl Vosburg of Marshall, MI -
• Shawn Reilly of Waukesha, WI -
• Joel Brammeier of Chicago -
• George Heartwell of Grand Rapids, MI -
People interviewed but not featured in the film. I greatly appreciated your contribution to my overall research of the Great Lakes Ecosystem:
Bob Grese, Christine Manninen, John Lenters, Mike Shriberg, Tim Davis, Dave Allan, Dave Jude, Teresa Carey, Father James, George Archambeau, Andrew Slade, Nancy Auer, Stephen Handler, Tom O’Rourke, Jeff Alson, Jia Wang, Keith Gunter, Carl Lindquist, Nick Bogater, Rosina Bierbaum, Anthony Bosbous, Oliver Turner, & Linda Hoath.
Cities filmed in:
Michigan: Ann Arbor, Dexter, Saline, Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Grass Lake, Monroe, Marquette, Houghton, Pellston, Mackinaw City, St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, Saugatuck, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Livonia, Marshall, Munising, Christmas, Paradise, Van Buren, Hell, Tahquamenon
Minnesota: Duluth
Wisconsin: Superior, Waukesha
Illinois: Chicago
Ohio: Toledo, Oak Harbor, Cleveland, Perry
New York: Ithaca, Buffalo, Niagara Falls
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
I do not own any of the videos/photos listed below but claim fair use for I am not profiting from this film, it is for the sake of reporting the news of what is happening in our world today.
Buffalo Skulls -
Atomic Bomb Blast Effects -
Nuketown USA -
Fukushima Explosion -
Fukushima tsunami flood -
Davis-Besse Protest -
Lake High School Tornado -
Great Lakes Compact -
Al Gore -
The horses (both wooden and real) seen throughout the film are symbolic for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (a biblical tale) and were inspired by an interview with David Jude. I later discovered this painting by Victor Vasnetsov that inspired me to include the steeds in the film.
Special thank you to the June Ross Marks Foundation and the Environmental Research Institute of Vassar College for financially supporting my winter journey around the Great Lakes, a 1,500-mile journey. This film would not have been possible without you, thanks.
Derna Film Studios -