Upstream (into America) begins along the US/Mexico border and ends near the northern New Mexican state border. The super 8mm film depicts a succession of glimpses of the Rio Grande riverbed, in chronological sequence, from its driest points to flowing streams while getting tangled and pausing at the Elephant Butte and Cochiti dams.
Controlled by the US Bureau of Reclamation, the Rio Grande river is fractured by over-appropriated irrigation systems supplying New Mexico and Texas. For the majority of the year, for a time period that continues to grow, the river runs dry starting from someplace below Elephant Butte Dam to around Ojinaga where it is reformed by other source rivers. Upstream (into America) reduces the Rio Grande to its essence, water—and thereby, the absence of water. As the images shift from sand to water, they seem to hold aspirations of resources, abundance, and life, but depict the actuality of corporate exploitation, hoarding, and environmental crisis.
The film premiered at No Name Cinema in Santa Fe, NM at the 'Liquid Form: water in experimental film' festival on April 15, 2023.
