We are thrilled to announce that OIFF has received an “Arts in Society Grant” from the Denver-based Redline Creative District! Arts in Society is a program of Redline, a nonprofit arts organization in Denver, Colorado, that fosters education and engagement between artists and communities to create positive social change.

This generous funding will help support the film festival’s community engagement program designed to increase water education in Ouray County with a focus on youth. Working with our faculty partners at Ouray High School, students are reading literature about water science, policy, and conservation in Colorado as they prepare to meet with Choctaw filmmaker Colleen Thurston (OIFF 2023) during the film festival. Thurston's film Drowned Land will screen during OIFF 2025 on June 21. The documentary explores efforts to protect Oklahoma’s Kiamichi River, a thriving ecosystem under threat. The movie gives a voice to “the stories of the river’s advocates—residents, Choctaw culture-keepers and scientists—who have come together to save the river and initiate a paradigm shift grounded in ideals of rematriation and rights of Nature, reinforcing a commitment to end the cycle of disconnection from our land.” (Drownedland.com)

Members of Ouray High School Student Festival Jury will have a chance to speak with Thurston after the screening of her film along with Tanya Ishikawa (Executive Director of the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership), film festival leadership, and our faculty partners.

“We are tremendously grateful for this grant,” says festival co-director Jake Abell. “It will allow us to bring together local youth, a filmmaker who cares deeply about our region, local non-profit leaders, and faculty partners to help each other reflect on the future of water in this region of Colorado.” Ultimately, the goal is to lead students to propose a Youth Water Plan that charts a vision for how students see themselves as active participants in local efforts to conserve and protect Western Colorado’s water resources.

This exceptional support from Redline Creative District complements funding from Science on Screen, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Drowned Land will appear as the final film in OIFF’s Science on Screen season, which began with Bears of Durango this winter and will continue with Sundance hit Nocturnes on May 24th in Silverton (details coming soon).

We are also deeply grateful to receive a grant from the San Miguel Power Association to support this initiative. “Thanks to these partners, we will also have a limited number of copies of Citizen’s Guide to Where Your Water Comes From available free of charge to locals joining the festival,” adds Abell. “This is the same text our student partners are reading in local classes led by Eric Constantineau and Alexander Boukis.”

The festival is deeply grateful to Redline, Science on Screen®, the San Miguel Power Association, and all our project partners for supporting our efforts to empower youth and the local community through cinema. Other panelists for the Drowned Land screening will be announced this spring. Buy a pass to experience this year’s special programming.

OIFF Receives “Arts in Society” Grant

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