''Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature'' is a 1997 American four-part documentary series about water, money, politics, and the transformation of nature.
[.] The film was directed by
Jon H. Else
Jon H. Else is an American documentary filmmaker and professor at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He directs the documentary program.
Biography
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Else moved west for college. He earned a B.A. (Engli ...
and Linda Harrar.
Synopsis
The film chronicles the growth of a large community in the western American desert. It brought abundance and a legacy of risk created in the United States and abroad.
The first three episodes are based on
Marc Reisner
Marc Reisner (September 14, 1948 – July 21, 2000) was an American environmentalist and writer best known for his book ''Cadillac Desert'', a history of water management in the American West.
Early life
He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, th ...
's book, ''
Cadillac Desert
''Cadillac Desert'' (1986), is a history by American Marc Reisner about land development and water policy in the western United States. Subtitled ''The American West and Its Disappearing Water'', it explores the history of the federal agencies, ...
'' (1986), that delves into the history of water use and misuse in the American West. It explores the triumph and disaster, heroism and intrigue, and the rivalries and bedfellows that dominate this little-known chapter of American history.
The final episode is drawn from
Sandra Postel
Sandra Postel is the founding director of the Global Water Policy Project. She is a world expert on fresh water and related ecosystems. From 2009-2015, she served as Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She is the author of scor ...
's book, ''Last Oasis'' (1992), which examines the global impact of the technologies and policies that came out of the United States' manipulation of water. She demonstrates how they have created the need for conservation methods that will protect Earth's water for the next century.
The parts of the documentary are entitled:
# "Mulholland's Dream" (90 minutes)
# "An American Nile" (60 minutes)
# "The Mercy of Nature" (60 minutes)
# "Last Oasis" (60 minutes)
Interviews
*
David Brower
David Ross Brower (; July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies (1997), Friends of the Earth (1969), Eart ...
*
Floyd Dominy
Floyd Elgin Dominy (December 24, 1909 Adams County, Nebraska – April 20, 2010 Boyce, Virginia) was appointed commissioner of the United States Bureau of Reclamation from May 1, 1959, to December 1, 1969, by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dominy joi ...
*
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
*
Robert Towne
Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz;''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls'' by Peter Biskind page 30, 1999 Bloomsbury edition November 23, 1934) is an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He started with writing films for Roger Corm ...
See also
* ''
Cadillac Desert
''Cadillac Desert'' (1986), is a history by American Marc Reisner about land development and water policy in the western United States. Subtitled ''The American West and Its Disappearing Water'', it explores the history of the federal agencies, ...
'' by Marc Reisner.
References
External links
*
* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030212083841/http://www.kteh.org/cadillacdesert/home.html , date=February 12, 2003 , title=''Cadillac Desert'' official page
''Cadillac Desert''informational page at Professor Martin Stute's web site at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
1997 films
1997 documentary films
American documentary films
American independent films
Documentary films about water and the environment
1997 independent films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films