Voices of the Shenandoah River with Q&A | Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

There will be a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle and games in the Alamo lobby prior to the screening.

An in-theater Q&A with the filmmakers will follow the screening.

About Friends of the Shenandoah River

The Friends of the Shenandoah River is a volunteer, non-profit, scientific organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of the Shenandoah River and its tributaries.

The group was founded in 1989 by a group of like-minded Shenandoah Valley citizens and scientists concerned about the rapid decline in water quality of their beloved Shenandoah River. While the fish kills of the 80’s and 90’s would not compare to those of the next decade (which depleted 80% of the adult smallmouth and sunfish populations), the danger signs were all too evident: industrial pollution from the Avtex Fibers plant; sediment and fertilizer runoff; livestock polluting the feeder streams; water turbidity; lesions and sores on fish; the stench of under-treated sewage. Clearly, action was needed, but where to begin? This nucleus of science-minded Friends knew just where to start—with the science.

Launched in 1989, the FOSR grass-roots water quality monitoring and testing program was the first of its kind in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Today, in its 23rd year of continuous operation, the program deploys 72 FOSR volunteers who wade in, literally, with bi-monthly water samplings along 150 miles of the Shenandoah and its tributaries, from Port Republic, VA to Harpers Ferry, WV. The samples are processed through a full-time FOSR laboratory at Shenandoah University, resulting in a huge and invaluable database of sampling

Our event includes four films

Chessie’s Big Adventure: A Trip Down the South River Watershed (Dir: David Verde, 14 minutes) Join Chessie the duck on a 365-mile journey from high in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. On the way, Chessie learns that waters from the South River flow into the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. Viewers learn the watershed concept and how connections among land, water, and communities mean that we all live downstream.

Surf and Turf: A Chesapeake Bay Watershed Story (Dir: Eric Braker, 11 minutes) A celebration of the connection between land and water. “Surf and Turf” embarks on a captivating journey from the inland mountains and headwater streams of the Chesapeake Bay watershed to the wide-open, salty expanse of the Bay itself.

Fertile Fields, Fragile Waters: Farming and the Fate of the Shenandoah (Dir: Celia Irene Cooley, 39 minutes) Fertile Fields, Fragile Waters explores the uncertain future of farming in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, where industrial agriculture strains soil and waterways. Farmers, scientists, and river stewards confront the stakes and the promise of regenerative solutions.

River Maid (Dir: Colin J. Mason, 17 minutes) River Maid is a lyrical, song-like tale of an aging widower who is numbed by loss and marking time until the end. He encounters a mermaid who re-awakens his old sense of adventure.