“Moved by Waters" at the Putnam Museum & Science Center -- January 27.
Saturday, January 27, 3 p.m.
Putnam Museum & Science Center, 1717 West 12th Street, Davenport IA
Demonstrating that what unites us is more important than what divides us, the Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films turn their documentary lens on their Quad Cities home base in the Putnam Museum & Science Center's January 27 premiere of Moved by Waters, enabling viewers to discover a network of people and organizations working toward improved water quality in the Upper Mississippi watershed.
Moved by Waters is an uplifting and inspirational new documentary that depicts collaborative projects involving organizations and diverse groups of students, teachers, artists, farmers, and volunteers of all ages. Setting aside political or other differences, all are working toward improving the quality of water in the Quad Cities region in the Upper Mississippi Watershed. Did you know a piece of trash discarded in a Moline neighborhood can end up in the Gulf of Mexico? How is water quality monitored and evaluated? Is water pollution an urban or rural challenge? How does water quality affect wildlife and their habitat? These and other important questions are explored in Moved by Waters. We all need water that is clean and safe to drink, and the people and projects in the Rundles' latest film model a way forward that benefits both humanity and the environment.
“The Moved by Waters story is the opposite of the national narrative," said writer/director Kelly Rundle. "The national narrative tells us that Americans are too divided politically to work together on anything. The people we met and talked to while making this film showed us the opposite.”
“Ultimately, we need clean water to survive,” says the film's interviewee Amy Kay, the Clean Water Manager for the City of Davenport. “Not to be too doomsday-esque, but if we can’t work together for something that we need to survive, we’re in big trouble.”
“Every creature great or small has an intrinsic, innate value in and of itself," says the documentary's Dave Murcia, the Director/Naturalist at the Wapsi Environmental Education Center. "Mother Nature doesn’t need us, but we need Mother Nature. So when it comes down to clean water, specifically, we are the one animal on this planet that pollutes it’s own environment.”
“When we get to talk conservation and water quality, I get real excited, because it’s such an area that has changed in my lifetime and I’ve been a part of it,” says Davenport farmer Robb Ewoldt, the former president of the Iowa Soybean Association. Meanwhile, Board Chair of Partners of Scott County Watersheds Mike Paustian adds, "I’m a sixth generation farmer. My grandfather and my father spent a lot of time trying to make improvements to the farm and minimize the impact on the environment. And now it’s my turn to care for the farm and make sure it’s in good shape for the next generation.”
The Rundles' Emmy-winning Over & Under: Wildlife Crossings and Emmy-nominated Places to Be Wild will precede the Putnam's debut screening of Moved by Waters, with the film's featured Quad Cities organizations and institutions including: Partners of Scott County Watersheds; Augustana College – Upper Mississippi Center; The City of Davenport; Quad City Arts, River Action; Quad City Conservation Alliance Wetlands Center; Nahant Marsh Education Center; Scott County Conservation; Wapsi River Environmental Education Center; and Living Lands & Waters.
Moved by Waters will be screened at the Putnam Museum & Science Center on January 27, admission to the 3 p.m. event is $9-10, and a talk-back with the Rundles and other film participants will follow the showing. For more information and tickets, call (563)324-1933 and visiting Putnam.org, with additional information available at FourthWallFilms.com.
