Summary
DC: We had Roy Bedichek's Vanishing Frontier, which was a no-brainer because it was about Barton Springs, and the next one, Monumental, about David Brower and the fight for the Grand Canyon, is the perfect example of what we wanted. It's beautiful and inspiring and emotional. We didn't want to bum people out. Documentaries are usually about what's wrong with the world, and they're not usually very inspirational-they're depressing. It seems like the climate out there is that people don't want to be bummed out anymore. If you have a negative message, people will think you're a radical, left-wing, extremist, militant environmentalist. And environmentalists, unfortunately, don't make good filmmakers.
SM: I hate to say that it's a political thing because that's become a word with a bad connotation, but I just feel that people have a lot to gain by reconnecting with the natural world and local issues, and I guess I'm really inspired by that. I find it interesting to talk to people about how they perceive the basic challenge we face as a community and how we have this global environmental crisis-the coral reefs are dying, the glaciers are melting, it's getting really hot out-and yet we as a community aren't able to figure out a way to rally our forces and really dedicate ourselves to protecting what a majority of people would agree is the single more important natural asset we have: Barton Springs. I don't want to see Barton Springs get paved over like some normal pool. I don't want to see Southern California over the watershed. And that's what's gonna happen.So I'm trying to shrink things down. I'm not going to worry about China becoming the next big superpower. I just can't do anything about that. Luckily [I was able to do] the Downtown show, which was about Barton Springs, which is really important to me, and which was seen by 20,000 people. I'm not a hotshot filmmaker that's playing at Sundance or hanging out with movie stars. At one time, I thought that maybe that was what I wanted, but I don't care about that anymore. It's not about my image. I'm about accomplishing something. If it's something small, it's better than nothing at all.See the full content of this document
Extract
Green Screen
Austin is known for its movie culture and progressive politics. The former is epitomized by Richard Linklater and the Austin Film Society; the latter is exemplified by the fight over Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer, a battle that's been raging for a generation now, with the environmentalist Save Our Springs Alliance arrayed on one side and the forces of development on the other. Until recently, environmentalists seemed to have the upper hand, thanks to resolutions and ordinances passed in the early '90...
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