Ottawa University

Foreign Student Brings Challenging Film and Director to OU

OTTAWA, Kansas -  On Wednesday, April 11, 2007, Ottawa University will host a public screening of the documentary Green Green Water.  The screening is complimentary and open to the public and will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the University Chapel, 1001 S. Cedar Street, Ottawa, Kansas.  A discussion with the film's director, Dawn Mikkelson, will follow the 85 minute screening.

Yuta Kawarasaki, an OU senior from Hamaoka, Japan, was instrumental in bringing the film to Ottawa.  Yuta was struck by the message of the film, which addresses environmental, economic, and sociological issues surrounding the building and operation of hydroelectric dams in Canada and Minnesota.  He felt the film had implications for our society at large, so he worked to bring the film and its director to OU.  He was successful in doing so with the financial assistance of the OU Student Senate, the Arts and Cultural Events (ACE) program, and the academic dean's Liberal Arts Education Fund. 

"I believe this is a great opportunity for us as a liberal arts institution," said Yuta.  "Even though this film isn't about Kansas, the notion that the convenient life we enjoy through advanced technology is causing humans and nature to suffer is relevant to all of us," he added. 

The film's website, http://www.greengreenwater.com/, describes the film this way:       "Green Green Water is a story about power... power from hydroelectric dams . . .the power to destroy an ancient culture... the power of money... the power of Indigenous people who refuse to be powerless in their struggle to survive... and the power of activism. It is a journey of one average U.S. consumer (the filmmaker) who wants to know where her electricity comes from."

Founded in 1865, Ottawa University is a comprehensive, not-for-profit educational institution affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Ottawa University's educational mission brings together a residential campus in Ottawa, Kansas, and adult campuses in Overland Park, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe, Arizona; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Jeffersonville, Indiana; as well as multiple international instructional sites.  For more information, visit http://www.ottawa.edu/.

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