Ellen Pagehas been building a behind-the-lens resume for quite some time now but the documentaryThere’s Something in the Watermarks a major milestone for the Academy Award nominee; it’s her directorial debut. An exciting achievement no doubt, but the real standout quality ofThere’s Something in the Wateris that it raises awareness for environmental racism, specifically in her home province of Nova Scotia. The film is based onIngrid Waldron’s book,There's Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities. Along with co-director (and herGaycationco-creator)Ian Daniel, Page talks to community members dealing with the fallout of industrial development, all of whom live in remote, low income areas.
The film is eye-opening and downright devastating. Hopefully the film will get in front of more eyes soon as the issue is urgent to say the least, but in the meantime, we were honored to welcome Page, Daniel and Waldron to the Collider Lounge to talk about the film. You can hear what they told us about adapting Waldron’s book, figuring out when to incorporate themselves in the movie, why the 70-minute running time best suited this topic, what you can do to combat environmental racism right now, and so much more in the video interview at the top of this article.
You can find a full breakdown of the interview and the official TIFF synopsis forThere’s Something in the Waterbelow.
Ian Daniel, Ingrid Waldron, Ellen Page:
Based on Ingrid Waldron’s incendiary study, the film follows Page as she travels to rural areas of the province that are plagued by toxic fallout from industrial development. As did Waldron, the filmmakers discover that these catastrophes have been precisely placed,allin remote, low income — and very often Indigenous or Black — communities. As the filmmakers observe, your postal code determines your health.
