Documentary filmmaker
Caroline Bâcle’s Lost Rivers, a part-adventure, part-history lesson look at
waterways (both famous and not-too-famous) and the cities built along their
banks. Cities exist where there is
water.
Icarus Films has tabbed
May 5 as the DVD debut date for this multi-language (with English subtitles)
film presentation.
As the Industrial
Revolution crammed more and more workers into the cities (worldwide), it became
apparent to city planners and political officials that the primary reason a city
was where it was — namely, a water supply — came into conflict with the
organization of the metropolitan complex.
Rivers run where rivers choose to run, but man could change that.
The water supply needed
to be brought under control. Now skip
ahead to modern times and enter filmmaker Caroline Bâcle and her insightful
documentary, Lost Rivers. With the
best intentions and the best engineering techniques of the day, the rivers were
diverted, hidden and controlled … but rivers run where rivers choose to run!!!
In some cities, these
hidden rivers have become adventure attractions — tours are conducted and the
underground network is explored. In
some cities the infrastructure from over a century ago is becoming to come apart
and there is a push to restore the rivers — the city’s water sources — to their
original “pristine” state. She examines
such diverse places as Seoul, Toronto, London and even Yonkers, New York. The Bova-Celato River in Italy that runs
through the hamlet of Brecia (about 40 miles east of Milan) is also explored.
This is a fascinating
film that will have the viewer asking the question, “what secrets lie beneath
my city; my town?”
Bonus features include 13
additional video segments culled from the final release version of the documentary.
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