Experiencing Interruptions?

Ancestral Waters 2022

A tribe's 170-year fight to survive continues as they stand up against a fracked gas facility on tribal waters, in the midst of unprecedented climate change.

The Puyallup Tribe signed the medicine creek treaty in 1854 and like every other tribe in North America, they have had to continually fight for the inherent ways of life that are supposed to be guaranteed and protected by their treaty.

  • Darren Moore
    Director
  • Darren Moore
    Writer
  • Benita Moore
    Writer
  • Native Daily Network
    Producer
  • Darren Moore
    Producer
  • Dakota Case
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 14 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 23, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Darren Moore

Originally from England, Darren has lived in the United States since 2003. Married to Benita, and an IT guy by trade, he never imagined himself as a filmmaker until he felt compelled to pick up a camera to stand up for causes important to him. With no outside training, his goal is to keep learning and improving and to keep making films. Both documentary and fictional.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Life changing. That is how I will describe the period of time shown in Ancestral Waters. When we arrived in the fight, my wife and I were relatively young to climate activism and organizing and wanted to bridge our activism with our nonprofit's goal of raising indigenous voices and protecting indigenous land.

With a 10-year-old computer in my office and an old cell phone, we started to document their fight through live streams. With people increasingly looking to us for news on the fight, we followed up those live streams with short videos and tools for the fight. Eventually, the evolution of Ancestral Waters came into the mix, as we first made a film aimed at those on the front lines, full of factual information to address decision-makers with - as that sat with the movement for a couple of years, we started to develop our final release, which was to focus on the tribe's fight and how it is no different today than it was when they were forced to sign the treaties 170 years ago.

Through it, I made some life long friends, not least the 'star of the show' Dakota Case, who stood up for his people and inspired all of us to follow.