Athens International Video & Film Festival

We are thrilled to announce that Down by the Riverside had its Rust Belt Premiere in Athens, Ohio. The screening took place on Friday, April 12th at the Athena Cinema. The event opened with a video intro featuring the legendary musician Jorma Kaukonen, who reflected on Pete Seeger and the Clearwater movement. The highlight of the event was meeting Jorma’s incredible spouse Vanessa Kaukonen, who runs Fur Peace Ranch and the beautiful River of Time Boutique and Gallery in Athens. Thanks to Vanessa, Jorma, and festival director David Colagiovanni for creating an unbelievable and unforgettable experience for us in Athens!

This was an especially significant screening for me. I am originally from a Rust Belt town in West Virginia on the banks of the Ohio River, and Dan hails from Michigan, just outside of Flint, so we have always dreamed of building river-to-river connections with communities like our own that have been hit hard by deindustrialization. Growing up on the banks of the polluted Ohio, I never even imagined that we could save our river. The environmental pessimism was built into the milieu. Meeting Pete and Toshi Seeger and members of Clearwater and the Beacon Sloop Club has transformed my perspective on what we can do when we work together. As Pete declared in 1969, “If there is hope for the human race, then there is hope for the Hudson.” 

I also have a unique academic connection with Ohio, having attended the inspiring NEH Rust Belt Institute at Ursuline College in June of 2023 where I learned so much about the grassroots revitalization work in the Cleveland area. Amazing things are happening in Ohio, and we look forward to continuing to share this message of hope and opening up conversations about what environmental justice will look like in a post-industrial future.

-Jodie