Waterlife

Waterlife is a 2009 documentary film and web documentary about the state of the Great Lakes.

Film

Kevin McMahon began filming Waterlife in 2007. The film explores the beauty of the Great Lakes as well as their degradation due to water pollution.^[1] The film looks at the water system from its headwaters in Lake Superior to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, accompanied by Josephine Mandamin, an Anishinabe elder from Thunder Bay, who walks along the Great Lakes each spring to protest deteriorating conditions.^[2]

Waterlife is co-produced by Primitive Entertainment and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).^[3] The film received the Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature at the 2009 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.^[4] The United Kingdom distributor is Dogwoof Pictures.^[5]

Web documentary

The interactive version of Waterlife was created by Toronto-based web and design company Jam3 and creative directors Adrian Belina and Pablo Vio for the NFB, incorporating material from the documentary film. The conception and development of the website took approximately four months. Waterlife explores different aspects of the state of the Great Lakes through 23 individual sections, incorporating text, images and sound.^[6] It received the Webby Award for best web documentary (individual episode).^[7]

See also

• The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes, a 1968 NFB film about the Great Lakes
• Water on the Table

References

External links

• Official website (requires Adobe Flash)
• Waterlife at the Internet Movie Database

Great Lakes of North America
Main lakes	Erie Huron Michigan Ontario Superior
Secondary lakes	Nipigon Nipissing St. Clair Simcoe Winnebago
Bays and Waterways	Detroit River Erie Canal French River Georgian Bay Great Lakes Waterway Green Bay Lake George Lake Kagawong Lake Manitou Lake Nicolet Manitou Passage Lake Mindemoya Munuscong Lake Niagara River Nipigon River North Channel Potagannissing Bay St. Clair River Saint Lawrence River Saint Lawrence Seaway St. Marys River Sault Ste. Marie Canal Soo Locks Straits of Mackinac Trent–Severn Waterway Welland Canal
Islands	Detroit River Michigan (state) (in Lake Huron, part of Isle Royale National Park) Ontario
Historic geology	Lake Agassiz Lake Chicago Lake Maumee Mackinac Falls Midcontinent Rift System Niagara Escarpment Wisconsin glaciation
Government	Conference of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers Great Lakes Commission Great Lakes Fishery Commission International Joint Commission
Related topics	Basin Bays of the Great Lakes Great Lakes region Great Lake ships Lake-effect snow Lake Michigan–Huron Marine protected areas Megalopolis Native American tribes (US) Quebec City–Windsor Corridor Settlements Great Lakes museum and historic ships Lake freighter Tall ships Great Lakes Areas of Concern Great Lakes Treaties