Amidst the perils of climate change and other environmental issues, some people worry about the impact on future generations.
In the short film, “Water is Life,” a documentary about the Great Lakes, Frank Ettawageshik, the former director of United Tribes of Michigan, said he has confidence in today’s youth and the future.
Ettawageshik, a member of the Ojibwe Tribe, has seen how young people are learning about the ecology of the Great Lakes through studies aboard boats and other places. He believes the future of North America’s largest body of fresh water will be secure.
“I guess I’m an elder statesman,” Ettawageshik said in the film. “I really feel our future is in good hands with the youth that are out there.”
“Water is Life” is one of 30 films showing as part of the Little Fort Film Festival Saturday and Sunday at Three Brothers Theatre, the Waukegan Public Library and the Waukegan History Museum at the Carnegie in Waukegan, showing films with an environmental theme.
Susan Roe Musacchio, an author and filmmaker herself, is the creator and organizer of the event — Waukegan’s first film festival. She said Little Fort is an environmental film festival designed to create conversations about the environment.
“All the messages are positive,” Musacchio said. “We want people to have actual dinner conversations about our environment. We want to make people aware of the environment around them.
Some of the movies are feature-length, while others, like “Water is Life,” are shorts. Musacchio said people who plan to go to one or all of the films can buy a $20 pass good for all showings. There are no individual tickets.
Spending two years putting the festival together, Musacchio said Waukegan is an ideal location. The city has strong natural resources like the dunes and a large beach as well as a past with environmental issues, including five U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund sites.
“I was swimming in Lake Michigan at the Waukegan (Municipal) Beach,” Musacchio said. “I saw the smokestacks and I saw the beautiful bluff. I wondered what I was swimming in.”
Inspired by the elements around the Waukegan community, Musacchio said it was the right place for an environmental film festival. She reached out to city officials and they offered support. She found sponsors to help make it happen.
Of the 112 films submitted for consideration, Musacchio said they came from five continents — North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa—and 38 countries. A panel of judges picked 30 for the festival.”
Richard Mack and John Manes are the creators of “Water is Life.” Evanston residents, they are veterans of six festivals. As they interviewed Ettawageshik and others about the Great Lakes, they learned how important water is to Native Americans.
“The movie stems from what we learned from the leaders of the Ojibwe and Odawa tribes of Michigan,” Manes said. “For them, water is life. The Great Lakes contain 20% of the world’s fresh water.”
“We both grew up around the lake,” Mack added.
Jason Lindsey of Mahomet is the only person in the festival with two movies — “Breaking Ice” dealing with glaciers, and “It’s Time” about making maple syrup. He is both a still photographer and a filmmaker. They are both short films.
For “It’s Time,” Lindsey said he shot most of the picture but he felt he needed help putting it together creatively with a good story. He reached out to Scott Krahn of Lammon, Wis., and they began working together.
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Telling the story through narration as Anna Keck — Lindsey’s wife — made the syrup in a wooded area, they leave it to the moviegoer to realize who is doing the talking.
Musacchio said other films in the festival include selections like “River Raisin” about how people in Monroe, Michigan, took control of a situation of what was happening in their city where the river flows into Lake Erie.
Another movie was a contest winner among students in Waukegan schools. Musacchio said a $500 scholarship went to students at Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep for their film about the garden they cultivated on their campus — ” Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep: Environmental Concerns.”
A film from New Zealand, “Seaweed,” is the story of a woman who studies seaweed off the coast of New Zealand. Musacchio said it also shows a love for the ocean by a scientist.