Join 21c for a screening of the film, Drowned Land, followed by a Q&A with Director Colleen Thurston.

Flowing through southeastern Oklahoma, the Kiamichi River is a cradle of biodiversity and cultural memory. Already twice dammed, it now faces another threat: a proposed hydropower project that could drain its watershed. For local residents and Indigenous culture-keepers of the Choctaw Nation, protecting the river is part of resisting a long history of land loss and forced displacement dating back to the Trail of Tears.

Told with the river as its central character, the story traces its seasonal vitality, the injury from dams, and efforts to reclaim ecological balance. Woven throughout is the filmmaker’s own family story - she reflects on her grandfather’s work on the Army Corps of Engineers dams and her tribe’s ongoing struggle against resource exploitation, seeking reconciliation between past and present.

The film’s ensemble are voices of advocates—residents, scientists, and cultural leaders—calling for rematriation and the rights of nature, working to break the cycle of disconnection and ensure the Kiamichi’s life-giving waters endure.

Quote from a review:

“Drowned Land is a powerful documentary…Colleen Thurston masterfully connects the dots between past injustices and present-day exploitation, reminding us that history doesn’t just repeat itself; it floods back with a vengeance…or worse, disappears."

— Film Threat