Detroit Institute of Arts’ Detroit Film Theatre to show award-winning documentary “Watermark” How water shapes civilizations, humans’ relationship with nature topic of movie

Updated Jun 7, 2017

June 7, 2017 (Detroit)—The Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) Detroit Film Theatre (DFT) is showing “Watermark,” a feature documentary that takes a global perspective on the human relationship with water. The movie from multiple-award winning filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier working with renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky screens Friday, June 23 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, June 24 at 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Presented in association with Oakland University's (OU) Cinema Studies program, Claude Baillargeon, OU associate professor of art history, will introduce the Friday, June 23 screening, which will also feature a Skype Q&A session with the film’s image researcher Jim Panou and China crew producer Noah Weinzweig. “Watermark” is part of the 2017 Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) Conference “Rust/Resistance: Works of Recovery” at Wayne State University. Note: The Saturday, June 24 screening is the movie, only.

“Watermark” is the follow-up to “Manufactured Landscapes,” Baichwal’s acclaimed 2006 adaptation of Burtynsky’s photographic portrayal of the human impact on the planet. The film brings together diverse stories from around the world about people’s relationship with water—how they are drawn to it, what they learn from it, how they use it and the consequences of that use.

Visually stunning photography shot in ultra high-definition video documents massive floating abalone farms off China’s Fujian coast and the construction site of its Xiluodu dam, the biggest arch dam in the world; the barren desert delta where the mighty Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean; and the water-intensive leather tanneries of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

“Watermark” shows how humans are attracted to water, from the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California to India’s Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, where 30 million people gather for a simultaneous sacred bath in the Ganges. The filmmakers also speak with scientists who drill ice cores two kilometers deep into the Greenland Ice Sheet, and explore the sublime pristine watershed of Northern British Columbia.

Museum Hours and Admission

9 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesdays–Thursdays, 9 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. General admission (excludes ticketed exhibitions) is free for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county residents and DIA members. For all others, $12.50 for adults, $8 for seniors ages 62+, $6 for ages 6–17. For membership information, call 313-833-7971.

June 7, 2017 (Detroit)—The Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) Detroit Film Theatre (DFT) is showing “Watermark,” a feature documentary that takes a global perspective on the human relationship with water. The movie from multiple-award winning filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier working with renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky screens Friday, June 23 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, June 24 at 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Presented in association with Oakland University's (OU) Cinema Studies program, Claude Baillargeon, OU associate professor of art history, will introduce the Friday, June 23 screening, which will also feature a Skype Q&A session with the film’s image researcher Jim Panou and China crew producer Noah Weinzweig. “Watermark” is part of the 2017 Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) Conference “Rust/Resistance: Works of Recovery” at Wayne State University. Note: The Saturday, June 24 screening is the movie, only.

“Watermark” is the follow-up to “Manufactured Landscapes,” Baichwal’s acclaimed 2006 adaptation of Burtynsky’s photographic portrayal of the human impact on the planet. The film brings together diverse stories from around the world about people’s relationship with water—how they are drawn to it, what they learn from it, how they use it and the consequences of that use.

Visually stunning photography shot in ultra high-definition video documents massive floating abalone farms off China’s Fujian coast and the construction site of its Xiluodu dam, the biggest arch dam in the world; the barren desert delta where the mighty Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean; and the water-intensive leather tanneries of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

“Watermark” shows how humans are attracted to water, from the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California to India’s Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, where 30 million people gather for a simultaneous sacred bath in the Ganges. The filmmakers also speak with scientists who drill ice cores two kilometers deep into the Greenland Ice Sheet, and explore the sublime pristine watershed of Northern British Columbia.

Museum Hours and Admission

9 a.m.–4 p.m. Tuesdays–Thursdays, 9 a.m.–10 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. General admission (excludes ticketed exhibitions) is free for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county residents and DIA members. For all others, $12.50 for adults, $8 for seniors ages 62+, $6 for ages 6–17. For membership information, call 313-833-7971.