NewEnglandFilm.com

Upstream to Downstream (In Our Bloodstreams) examines the systems of our culture, of which we are all participants; we dump unfathomable amounts of pollutants and DNA altering chemicals into our streams and rivers which eventually end in the ocean. It was once believed that waters were so vast, that whatever was dumped into it was somehow absorbed and made inert, or cleansed by the water. However, what goes around – comes back around, either by drinking water, consumption of contaminated foods, or loss of marine habitats’ ability to sustain life. Baker says, “Water is our lifeblood.” This eerie short in the style of flowing painterly public-service-announcement examines a need to restructure our water, waste, and energy systems – but first our way of thinking. Maine Ecological Artist and Film Director, Krisanne Baker makes a case for the changing of our cumulative consumerist practices in this experimental documentary short.