‘Upstream Battle’

German director captures tribes’ fight to remove Klamath dams

By LEE JUILLERAT
H&N Regional Editor

April 2, 2009

When German film director Ben Kampas learned American Indians were flying to Scotland to challenge one of the world’s largest corporations, he grabbed his camera and went to see what was going on.

That was 2005.

Four years later the result is “Upstream Battle,” a documentary about efforts by tribes along the Klamath River to have dams removed and restore salmon runs.

That first trip to Scotland introduced Kampas to Klamath, Hoopa, Karuk and Yurok tribal members lobbying Glascow-based Scottish Power, which then owned the dams, to support dam removal.

Submitted photo - Jeff Mitchell, a Klamath Indian, is featured in the documentary, “Upstream Battle.”

Over the following three-plus years, Kampas made eight flights to the U.S. to understand the situation and gather footage for the film that will be shown at this weekend’s Ashland Independent Film Festival.

While it features vantages from members of the four tribes, Kampas includes people representing other viewpoints, including Toby Freeman of PacifiCorp and Greg Addington of the Klamath Water Users Association. Kampas’ previous documentaries focused on the Scottish independence movement, German tabloid television and anti-nuclear campaigners.

“I generally dislike advocacy films that paint a good and bad picture and tell the audience what to think,” Kampas said. “It was very important to us to show the humans behind all the major parties in the story. In one way or another they are all driven by fear for their own livelihoods …

“But we hope that viewers realize that for Native Americans this struggle is not just about securing their livelihood. It’s about the loss of their culture, the impact on their health, their religion and their treaty rights.”

Farmers an unknown thing

Kampas said people, especially in Europe, often know about farmers, fishermen and corporate employees, but know little about American Indians.

“From the European perspective, we had heard about poverty, drug abuse and casinos. But we were amazed to discover that tribal culture in the Klamath Basin is still pretty intact. … We had no idea the tribes were powerful networkers in this bureaucratic world. We had to throw stereotypes overboard, and we wanted to give viewers the chance to have the same experience.”

Kampas said he started with a small grant and later brought on German and French broadcasters as co-producers.

“Personally, I just trusted the story and have yet to generate an income from the film.”

Along with Ashland, the film is scheduled for showings at film festivals worldwide, including New Zealand. By a process he calls “killing your darlings,” the threehour rough-cut was shortened into a two-hour feature and further trimmed into an hour-long television version.

It’s narrated by Stan Blackley, a Scottish friend. Kampas said audience response has been favorable.

“It was very moving to see Jeff Mitchell and Toby Freeman jointly advocating for the removal of the dams,” he said of a question-answer session after a recent screening in Portland.

Kampas believes, and hopes, the dams will be removed.

“The proposed deal makes economic sense to PacifiCorp, and it limits their liability. So I don’t consider PacifiCorp’s signature under the Agreement in Principle just a tactical move. I think it’s a huge step towards dam removal.”

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