Against the backdrop of Great Salt Lake’s dwindling water levels, a new documentary film that centers Indigenous perspectives about what to do will make its feature-length screening debut with two dates in November.
“Diverted: Indigenous Stewardship and Saving Great Salt Lake” will screen at Fisher Brewing Company on Thursday, Nov. 6, and at Utah Film Center on Thursday, Nov. 20. The first screening will be followed by a Q&A panel featuring the filmmakers and some of the film’s participants. Both events are free and open to the public.
Filming for “Diverted” began in 2023 as a personal passion project by Director Valene Peratrovich and producers McCaulee Blackburn and Cristian Martinez. They and others then continued working on the film in a class setting at Salt Lake Community College before receiving a grant from the Wake the Great Salt Lake (WakeGSL) project to expand it.
WakeGSL is a temporary public art project supported by the Salt Lake City Arts Council and the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office. Over the past 18 months, WakeGSL has commissioned more than a dozen projects by local and international artists, all aimed at inspiring care, creativity and action for the future of Great Salt Lake.
“Film, as a medium, is a powerful storytelling tool with meaningful and inspiring impacts,” said Andrew Shaw, lead of the Wake the Great Salt Lake project. “By making the story of Great Salt Lake and Indigenous perspectives accessible across our watershed and around the world, ‘Diverted’ will open new opportunities for everyone in our community — including artists, activists, farmers, and legislators — to imagine a better future for Great Salt Lake and contribute to its restoration.”
From the beginning, the goal of the filmmakers was to present what Indigenous leaders and activists in the area see as solutions to the ongoing disappearance of Utah’s landmark lake — amplifying voices and perspectives that mainstream dialogue often overlook.
“We’ve scienced this problem to death,” Darren Parry, former chair of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, says in the film. “We have to start looking at the problem from a … different view. Why not maybe an Indigenous view?”
Interviewees in the film, in addition to Darren Parry, include Brad Parry, vice chair of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation; Elizabeth Kronk Warner, dean of the school of law at University of Utah; local activist Carl Moore and more.
“We’re going to the wisdom keepers, scholars and community members, and bringing them all together to find the commonality,” said Director Valene Peratrovich about the film.
EVENT DETAILS
Thursday, November 6, 7:00 PM
Fisher Brewing Company, 320 West 800 South, SLC (21+)
Followed by a Q&A panel
Thursday, November 20, 7:00 PM
Utah Film Center, 375 West 400 North, SLC
Cost: Free and open to the public
About the Filmmakers
The producers and filmmakers behind “Diverted” are former students of Salt Lake Community College. Their disciplinary areas include film, radio and journalism. Director Valene Peratrovich is a KRCL Radio staff member and formerly co-hosted the station’s Sunday morning program “Living the Circle of Life,” which is dedicated to showcasing Indigenous culture and life in the area. Producer McCaulee Blackburn in the past worked with the Great Salt Lake Collaborative and, during that time, covered Great Salt Lake and general water use in Utah.
About Wake the Great Salt Lake
Wake the Great Salt Lake is a temporary public art project that aims to educate and inspire residents and visitors to understand and prevent the further decline of the Great Salt Lake. The project is a partnership of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge with additional support from Kem and Carolyn Gardner, the Marcia and John Price Family Foundation, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Zions Bank, Shaelene Gee, the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation, Lawrence T. Janet T. Dee Foundation, Delta Air Lines, GFiber, and other funders. For more information, please visit wakegsl.org.
About Salt Lake City Arts Council
The Salt Lake City Arts Council promotes, presents, and supports artists, arts organizations, and arts activities in order to further the development of the arts community and to benefit the public by expanding awareness, access, and participation. For more information, please visit saltlakearts.org.
About the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office
Mayor Erin Mendenhall is the mayor of Salt Lake City, the capital and most populous city in Utah, the fastest-growing state in the country. As the hub of the economy, the arts, and sports for the region, Salt Lake City is committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable community. With a focus on quality of life, Salt Lake City continues to be a destination for both residents and visitors alike, having hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and welcoming the world again for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. An elected mayor, who serves as the chief executive, and seven part-time City Council members govern the City. For more information, visit slc.gov.
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