‘POV’ Delves Into Abundant Yet Painful History of Payahuunadü In Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
Overview
New York, NY – June 6, 2022 – POV, America’s longest running documentary series, now celebrating its 35th anniversary season, exposes the legacy of colonization, racism, and environmental injustice in the Payahuunadü region (California’s Owens Valley). The national broadcast premiere of Emmy Award-winning director Ann Kaneko’s (Against the Grain: An Artist’s Survival Guide to Perú) and producer Jin Yoo-Kim’s (A Woman's Work: The NFL Cheerleader Problem)Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust premieres Monday, July 18, 2022. The documentary is available to stream free until August 18, 2022 at pbs.org, and the PBS Video app. In addition to standard closed captioning, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities.
At the foot of the majestic snow-capped Sierras sits Manzanar, the site of the World War II concentration camp where 11,070 Japanese Americans were incarcerated from March 1942 to November 1945. This place is the confluence for memories of Payahuunadü, the now-parched “land of flowing water.” In Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, Kaneko – best known for films that weave her poetic aesthetic with the complex intricacies of political reality – documents the struggle of intergenerational women who share histories of forced removal: Japanese Americans who were incarcerated at the camp, Native Americans who were driven from these lands, and farmers and ranchers turned environmentalists, who were bought out by the LA Department of Water and Power.
Yoo-Kim knew it was important to capture the oral stories of these people as they formed an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from the city of Los Angeles. She says: “There is a reason why this overlapping history is kept from the people and that’s the gap in knowledge the film and its impact campaign seek to address.” By connecting Manzanar to California’s environmental and political history, the documentary shows the intersectionality of three communities mistreated by government entities that have not served the interests of all of their people. When these three communities joined forces, they were able to successfully triumph over the behemoth of LADWP.
Erika Dilday, American Documentary | POV Executive Director said: “On behalf of American Documentary and POV, we’re so pleased to present Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust – an enormously important film that really shows the power of coalition building, and the diverse and vitally connected histories of the Payahuunadü region.”
Filmmaker Kaneko says, “My family was unwittingly swept into a dark chapter of American history, and this film has become a platform for us to unravel how our story is entwined in the formation of the West and LA’s development as a megalopolis.”
In anticipation of the broadcast, the film team will be holding a national Day of Action on the weekend of July 16-17. Partnering with 18 Million Rising, Tsuru for Solidarity, the Sierra Club and Nia Tero, they will spotlight local actions highlighting resource extraction, incarceration, environmental justice in a livestream video relay, passing the baton from one city to another. The 2 hour live stream will uplift water and land protectors. Please check out manzanardiverted.com for updates.
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Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, is a co-production of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), and Vision Maker Media with American Documentary. Directed, produced and edited by Ann Kaneko. Jin Yoo-Kim produced and served as the impact producer. The executive producers are Tracy Rector, and Erika Dilday and Chris White of American Documentary | POV. Susan Metzger and Ann Kaneko are editors; Lori Goldston, Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda are the composers and Dawn Valadez is the consulting producer.
Credits
Director/Producer: Ann Kaneko
Producer / Impact Producer: Jin Yoo-Kim
Executive Producers: Tracy Rector, Erika Dilday and Chris White of American Documentary | POV, Stephen Gong of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Francine Blythe-Lewis and Shirly Sneve of Vision Maker Media.
Editors: Susan Metzger and Ann Kaneko
Composers: Lori Goldston, Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda
Consulting Producer: Dawn Valadez
About Payahuunadü, ‘Land of Flowing Water’
The Nüümü (Owens Valley Paiute) have lived in Payahuunadü “Land of the Flowing Water” since time immemorial. Prior to the arrival of settlers and the City of Los Angeles, the Nüümü lived sustainably and in harmony with the natural environment. Payahuunadü was rich in luxuriant grasses and water from streams that descend from the Sierra Nevada. Using ancient irrigation ditches and canals they had dug by hand, the Nüümü stewarded the valley’s resources and carefully harvested its seed concentrations in order to preserve the land, plants and animals while living upon it. This was a longstanding, ecologically sustainable means of agricultural production that nourished them in return.
The delicate balance that the Nüümü maintained in their use of water and land was interrupted when settlers came into the valley in the 19th century. Settlers did not recognize the form of quiet agriculture practiced by the Nüümü. They only saw under-utilizated land available for the taking, which lead over time to monocrop agriculture, seepage of water into otherwise un-irrigated plots, the draining of marshy areas, pollution of fresh water from stock runoff, the gradual recession of Patsiata (Owens Lake), and the eventual destruction of native seed supplies. The distribution of water across Payahuunadü had changed forever.
To learn more about Payahuunadü’s history and activism to protect the land visit: OWENS VALLEY INDIAN WATER COMMISSION
About Manzanar Concentration Camp
In 1942, when the Department of War was looking for sites to incarcerate Japanese Americans, they came upon Manzanar, a former orchard community. All camps were to be situated on public lands where water was accessible so that incarcerees could grow their own food. When the Department of War approached the LA DWP about leasing lands in Payahuunadü, the LA DWP initially refused, citing the potential threat of sabotage of the City’s water supply, but the US Government eventually overruled the LA DWP. Manzanar was the first of 10 concentration camps that incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans, removing them from the West Coast.
In order to combat the dust, Japanese Americans resisted their imprisonment by growing fruits, vegetables and flowers, creating beautiful gardens. They also fished in nearby streams and lakes, learning the best spots from Native American friends. For the three and half years that the camp was open, Japanese American industriousness transformed Manzanar into a bountiful garden oasis.
Manzanar National Historic Site was established by Congress (PL 102-248) on March 3, 1992, to “provide for protection and interpretation of historical, cultural, and natural resources associated with the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II.” Sue Kunitomi Embrey, the co-founder of the Manzanar Committee who is featured in the film, was instrumental in the fight to establish the historic site.
About Farmer & Rancher Communities
In the early 1900s, farmers and ranchers in Payahuunadü believed they were selling their water rights to an irrigation project that would benefit them, but they eventually found that it was part of a ploy to buy them out for the benefit of the City of Los Angeles. In 1913, the LA Aqueduct was opened, rendering farming impossible. This precipitated the California Water Wars during the 1920s, and farmers dynamited the Alabama Gates, allowing water to flow back to the Owens River. Despite these acts of resistance, Los Angeles prevailed. After the completion of the Second Aqueduct in 1970, increased pumping had dire effects on local ecosystems, and Patsiata became a source of more toxic dust.