David Lavallée — Liquid Truth
Wednesday, February 20 · 7:30 p.m. · Max Bell Auditorium, The Banff Centre
Tickets: $10 at the door · Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368 or 762-6301
In the summer of 2006, Canmore-based activist David Lavallée attended a climate change seminar that took him to the Athabasca glacier. Standing on the field of ice, he was told that the glacier could disappear within 20 years. “I felt the need to share this information with the world,” he says.
The result is Liquid Truth, a documentary film that Lavallée made over the course of much of 2007. The film follows two guides on an exploration to “connect the drops” of the Athabasca watershed ecosystem, from the glacier, across northern Alberta, and into Lake Athabasca and the region of Alberta’s oil sands development. On February 20, Lavallée brings Liquid Truth to The Banff Centre for the next Mountain Culture and Environment Speakers’ Series.
Beginning the film in June of last year, Lavallée and another filmmaker, Alan Bibby, began their camera work on the Columbia Icefield, the source of the Athabasca River. They crossed the Icefield on skis, then paddled the entire length of the river. Along the way, Lavallée interviewed policy makers, scientists, industry and government representatives, and First Nations people about the front-line struggles against both climate change and the massive oilsands developments that are taking over the Athabasca Lake region.
”We found that all of the groups had their own view of truth about this river,” Lavallée says. “While all of these viewpoints are valid, some will lead to saving this river and some will not.” During the Speakers’ Series, Lavallée will speak about the experience of making the film.
The Speakers’ Series is generously sponsored by Banff’s Juniper Hotel.
