Dear Friends of Green Green Water,

This film really has taken on a life of its own! Screening requests flow in, media exposure continues, an anti-hydro leader changes his tune, and a website is launched called "Green Green Water Biased"! What an amazing couple months!

You know you're making an impact when you are targeted by a counter-information campaign. Read below about the international controversy raised over "Green Green Water"! This is not the first time that Manitoba Hydro has spent a high financial price to counter the message of Green Green Water, during the summer when we conducted principal photography, Manitoba Hydro spent an estimated $600,000 CAN to produce a film called Where Three Rivers Meet about Nelson House and their "bold move . . . to partner with one of the largest public utilities in North America" and a series of documentary films called "The Spirit of Norway House", costing an estimated $670,000 CAD about Norway House (another northern community considering the construction of a large dam in "partnership with Manitoba Hydro").

Those who control what stories and histories are told also control the future. Please help us continue getting the stories of Green Green Water out. We may not have the multi-million dollar PR budgets that Manitoba Hydro has, but through independent media we do have the power to make a huge difference. If you haven't purchased a DVD, please consider doing so. Work with us to organize a community screening or festival screening! Any other great ideas about how to get this film in front of people, we're all ears!

Respectfully,
Dawn Mikkelson & Jamie A. Lee
Director/Producer & Co-Director/Editor
Green Green Water

PS We would like to make a formal challenge to those who run www.greengreenwaterbiased.com that they encourage visitors to see how biased Green Green Water is by buying a DVD and watching it for themselves. Seems only fair . . .

In early August, friends of the film informed us that a website was launched against Green Green Water called, www.greengreenwaterbiased.com

Director Dawn Mikkelson responds, "Looking at the website, it looks like a grassroots activist site. However after reading the information on this site, which is largely misleading and inaccurate, it was not a surprise to discover that the domain is registered to Manitoba Hydro. I'm honestly surprised and mildly flattered that they would take the time and energy to create this site, but saddened that the cost going into this site could have been used to settle damage claims with members of the Northern First Nation communities of Manitoba."

Manitoba Hydro owns the domains www.greengreenwaterbiased.com, www.greengreenwaterbiased.net and www.greengreenwaterbiased.ca.

Here is our official response to the "Unbalance, Incomplete, & Incorrect" Statements Made on www.greengreenwaterbiased.com, a Website Owned and Operated by Manitoba Hydro.

"Green Green Water is a film that was developed to "establish negotiating leverage for the Cree . . . " (Dawn Mikkelson, Green Green Water filmmaker)"from www.greengreenwaterbiased.com:

You bet! When we first heard of the situation in northern Manitoba, we were surprised to hear of devastation in the creation of this hydro-power. As Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota, we had only heard of the benefits because, well, who is selling it to us? Manitoba Hydro. Manitoba Hydro spends millions of dollars on public relations, lawyers, and lobbyists each year to help tell their story to their North America customers. The stories of the Cree Nations living along these rivers are important and should be a part of the equation, but they don't have the financial resources to put up billboards, advertise in our U.S. newspapers, or produce television commercials to share their concerns. So, with the help of many environmental and human rights activists in the U.S. and Canada as well as members of the Cree Nations themselves, we have produced a documentary film full of the first-hand stories of living along these changing rivers in northern Manitoba. Although Manitoba Hydro often points to pro-Hydro Chiefs (such as Jerry Primrose and former opponent Jim Moore), elected tribal officials do not always reflect even a simple majority of the views expression in their community about a particular issue, and one goal of the film was to reflect these differing viewpoints within these communities. Viewpoints that would never be heard in the United States if not for projects like Green Green Water.

The more we differ the more we have to teach and learn from each other; therefore, we believe that we can be better enlightened by the rich stories and experiences told and lived by real people. No Manitoba Hydro billboard or website will give you this truth. Creating social justice documentary film means working in collaboration with all sorts of people and communities to build coalition for change. And if Green Green Water is helping the Cree establish negotiating leverage in their ongoing talks with Manitoba Hydro, then the film is adequately serving the communities we have collaborated with.

At the end of Green Green Water, the film states "24 August 2006, Jim Moore, a vocal opponent of Wuskwatim, beat all three in the election." This was the election to become Chief of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. After a year in office, Chief Moore contacted the film's director asking that the film be changed stating, "My Council and I believe that sustainable economic development like Wuskwatim is important to the future success of our young and quickly growing community. Since the election we have been working to ensure our people realize maximum benefits from this project."

The team behind Green Green Water has no intention of changing the end of the film, as it is completed, however when we secure broadcast distribution, we will note this change.

Canadian News Citations Supporting Chief Moore's Past as a "Vocal Opponent of Wuskwatim"
CBC (May 24, 2006)
CBC (June 14, 2006)

Here are the upcoming festival screenings . . . Tell your friends!

UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
Sept. 24 - 28
Nit-Aski: An Environmental Awareness
Moose Factory, Ontario


Oct. 11, 2007
18th Annual One World Film Festival
Ottawa, Canada
National Library & Archives


Oct. 18 - 28, 2007
10th Annual Red Fork Native American Film Festival
sponsored by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Tulsa Community College
Tulsa, OK

Earlier this spring Director Dawn Mikkelson was interviewed for the Twin Cities Film Program, "Butter City". Now you can see the portion of the interview dedicated to "Green Green Water" on You Tube!

Buy a copy our website (www.greengreenwater.com) to order your copy.

True to the spirit of the film, we have selected the most environmentally friendly packaging with the highest amount of recycled content on the market today for DVD's!