photo by Joe Boris
Okay. Yesterday was a good day for an indie filmmaker. Especially one who’s been at it for the last 10 years. Someone who doesn’t look back in the rearview mirror… uh… except when he’s driving on Atlanta’s interstates. (Yes, that angry restless unleashed energy from the pandemic still exists on the highway.)
It started on the Chattahoochee River downstream from Atlanta at Coweta County Riverside Park. An 8 a.m. meet up with Sally Bethea, the former Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (1994-2014), and son Henry Jacobs to paddle down to McIntosh Reserve Park and talk about the improved health of the river. The interview is among many we’ve done in the last few months for our upcoming documentary, “Keeping Watch,” a look at the women who have been protecting Atlanta’s rivers for the last 50 years.
It’s a great paddle. A little haze in the sky. But nice river flow. Quiet except for that Georgia Power plant. Lush greenery on both sides. Majestic sycamores. A few blue herons. Rock formations and shoals. It’s still an urban river that is downstream from about 5 million people and probably 10 million drains and toilets. But a place that has been restored and more fit for life than it has been in over 50 years.
So it’s a great interview on an almost perfect morning on the river. And that night, two of our most recent films are screening in different locations across Atlanta. A community group is watching and discussing “Common Good Atlanta” in Sandy Springs. Meanwhile in Tucker, there’s a gathering of music lovers to watch “Northside Tavern” in a backyard transformed into a performance space with an overturned trampoline as outdoor film screen.
One day. Three films.
And already getting ideas and gathering steam for the 2024 doc.