InterSection Films presents
MANZANAR, DIVERTED: WHEN WATER BECOMES DUST
Directed & Produced by Ann Kaneko
Produced & Impact Produced by Jin Yoo-Kim

We are honored to share this film screening as part of the NALMS 2024 Symposium. This screening is open to the public, as well as to registered conference attendees. If you are NOT a conference attendee, we ask that you register so that we may have a tentative headcount for planning purposes. We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, November 6th | 1:30 – 3:00 pm | Tahoe Blue Event Center, Turquoise Room

SHORT FILM SYNOPSIS

At the foot of the majestic snow-capped Sierras, Manzanar, the WWII concentration camp, becomes the confluence for memories of Payahuunadü, the now-parched “land of flowing water.” Intergenerational women from Native American, Japanese American and rancher communities form an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from Los Angeles.

LONG FILM SYNOPSIS

An inspired and poetic portrait of a place and its people, MANZANAR, DIVERTED: WHEN WATER BECOMES DUST follows intergenerational women from three communities who defend their land, their history and their culture from the insatiable thirst of Los Angeles. In this fresh retelling of the LA water story, Native Americans, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to preserve Payahuunadü (Owens Valley), “the land of flowing water.”

Featuring breathtaking photography and immersive soundscapes, the film recounts more than 150 years of history, showing how this distant valley is inextricably tied to the city of Los Angeles. It reveals the forced removals of two peoples–the Nüümü (Paiute) and the Newe (Shoshone) who were marched out of the Valley in the 1860s by the US Army and Japanese Americans who were brought here from their West Coast homes and incarcerated in a World War II concentration camp. Water lured outsiders in and continues to fuel the greed which has sucked this once lush place dry.

Filmed over five years, MANZANAR, DIVERTED captures stunning and intimate imagery of this valley, combined with archival gems and careful research to narrate this epic story of the American West. It begins before colonizers came to the valley and then shows how the US Army and settlers took over the Valley; how the Los Angeles Aqueduct siphoned the Valley dry; how incarcerated Japanese Americans made the land green again; how Patsiata / Owens Lake became a huge health hazard and how this Valley now bears the pain of these stories and the consequences of losing water to diversion.

Manzanar is the name of the former concentration camp that was constructed where an orchard community had thrived before the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) bought it out. Now, it is a national historic site where its annual pilgrimage unifies descendants of those incarcerated and activists who strive for social justice. In a David and Goliath fight, Japanese Americans living in Los Angeles and Native Americans and ranchers from the Valley form a coalition that stops construction of a massive LADWP solar facility across the Valley from the historic site. The film offers a hopeful message of how communities can come together to overcome histories of oppression and halt further development and monetization of a land.

Wednesday, November 6th | 3:30 – 5:00 pm | Tahoe Blue Event Center, Turquoise Room

PANEL DISCUSSION

Speakers

ANN KANEKO (director/producer/editor/cinematographer) is known for her personal films that weave her intimate aesthetic with the complex intricacies of political reality. An Emmy winner, she is in development on 45/45 a personal film about the beginning and end of life. Her other credits include A Flicker in Eternity; Against the Grain: An Artist’s Survival Guide to Perú; Overstay and 100% Human Hair. She was a Fulbright, Japan Foundation Artist, Film Independent Doc Lab and Jackson Wild Multicultural Alliance fellow. She has been commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Endowment and the Skirball Cultural Center. She currently teaches Media Studies at Pitzer College.

PROFESSOR JOHN MELACK has served on the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, since 1977. He researches ecological process in lakes, wetlands, and streams, and hydrological and biogeochemical aspects of watersheds. Prof. Melack has conducted studies globally in addition to ongoing research at Mono Lake and on high-elevation ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada. Before joining the faculty at UCSB, Prof. Melack attended Cornell University (B.A. in Biological Sciences) and Duke University (Ph.D. in Limnology), and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. During his career he has published over 320 scientific papers, edited or written four books, and written numerous book reviews and technical, workshop, and committee reports.

TERI TRACY (she/her) is the Eastern Sierra Policy Coordinator for the Mono Lake Committee (MLC).

In 2021, the Mono Lake story and Teri’s visit to the area catalyzed her plan to get back in school and pivot to a second career. After enjoying a wonderful season as an intern in 2023, she is thrilled to have joined the MLC policy team and to work both on-site in the Mono Basin as well as remotely from Colorado. She’ll complete her Master of Studies in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law (MSL) degree at the end of 2024. In addition to working on interesting policy projects, including coordinating public support for the current Tribal Beneficial Uses process, Teri supports the onboarding of seasonal interns. Teri, like many at MLC, is focused on preparations for the upcoming State Water Resources Control Board hearing regarding water diversions. Teri hails from the Fort Collins, Colorado area where she enjoys hiking, birding, yoga and spending time with friends and family. And studying…a lot of studying. Grateful for the opportunity to engage in consequential environmental work, Teri is also pleased to have a good excuse to spend a lot of time in the Eastern Sierra.

The Mono Lake Committee is a non-profit citizens’ group dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem, educating the public about Mono Lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.

The Mono Lake Committee was founded in 1978 and is 16,000 members strong.

NOAH WILLIAMS is a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe and grew up in the Owens Valley. From an early age he has been involved in the environmental protection of lands and water in his homelands named “Payahuunadu”. In 2019, he earned his B.A. in Environmental Communication from California State University Channel Islands. Currently, he serves as the Water Program Coordinator for the Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley and successfully carries out a Clean Water Act §106 and §319 program. In 2023, he was elected to serve as Vice-Chair for the California Environmental Protection Agency Tribal Advisory Committee. In addition, he has been featured in numerous articles, documentaries, and radio programs, most recently in an episode of Throughline from NPR.

Moderator

VINI TAGUCHI is a Stormwater Extension Associate at North Carolina State University, where his work focuses broadly on urban green stormwater infrastructure projects and helping communities become resilient to climate change.
He is most passionate about implementing solutions together with communities in ways that empower them and prevent displacement through green gentrification. Vini also serves as the current president of the Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, a civil rights organization committed to fighting for social justice for all those who are victimized by injustice and bigotry.