A film about people, pollution, planning and real estate on the most toxic 1.8 miles of water in America.

GOWANUS CURRENT is a documentary feature film chronicling rapid changes to a notoriously polluted neighborhood. It explores the struggles of its stakeholders and the textures of a transforming landscape, asking what is truly valuable in a community and who gets to decide.

Our Story

Back in 2013, we picked up our camera and decided to document how our neighborhood of Gowanus was changing. Ten years and 450 hours of footage later, we’re almost finished.

What we found outside our front door was a story about how value is negotiated in a community facing massive, sudden change. Environmental justice, racial inequality and participatory democracy  all come together to create an essential record of how cities make decisions about growth and housing, in the face of climate change and an ever widening wealth gap. 

We chose to employ a strictly observational approach, unmediated by interviews, narration or a musical score. Our film takes this show-don't-tell perspective and an indirect, intuitive style to create something artful and unique.

How You Can Help

With the edit now complete, we’re raising funds to get GOWANUS CURRENT out into the world. We need to pay for a color grade and sound mix and also prepare for our festival run. We’re asking for your help to get us through these last steps.

In addition to our sincere appreciation, we’re offering several perks to say thanks for your contribution. Many of these items were generously donated by the Gowanus Souvenir Shop, and others are GOWANUS CURRENT originals. Keep an eye out for other special perks and opportunities throughout the campaign.

More About the Film

Decades of industrial waste and raw sewage have turned Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal into one of the nation’s most toxic bodies of water. Small manufacturing businesses and neglected public housing have long dotted its sludgy banks, but the arrival of a billion dollar EPA cleanup and a massive city-led rezoning herald a new era. 

The proposals from the city and EPA will completely transform Gowanus, bringing apartment towers as high as thirty stories and 20,000 new residents, doubling the population. As the development plan moves forward, and mountains of noxious “black mayonnaise” are dredged from the waterway, a diverse citizenry begins to organize, prepared to fight for their vision of what’s best for the community. Will their voices be heard? What’s essential to the future of Gowanus, and what’s negotiable? Who gets to have a say about how their city grows? 

GOWANUS CURRENT explores the textures of this unique part of the city and the passions and hopes of stakeholders fighting for its future. The film listens in on contentious community meetings and sidewalk conversations, revisiting familiar corners over the years as warehouses come down and glass towers rise up to join the Brooklyn skyline. Ultimately, this film is a window into the conversations and convictions of the community, paired with representations of the rhythms and aesthetic of the place to create a kind of civic cinema.

Contribute Today

Independent voices in film are in trouble. As last year's writers and actors strikes showed us, we can’t count on studios, streamers and shareholders to provide us with the diversity of stories and viewpoints we deserve as an audience. That’s why we’re asking you to contribute to GOWANUS CURRENT. If you’re able, please make a contribution. If you aren’t able to give (and we know how hard the last year has been for our colleagues in film production), remember that support can take many forms other than financial. Help spread the word about this campaign.

If you would like to talk about different levels or way to donate, or need more information about the film, please reach out to us. 

About the Filmmakers

Jamie Courville (Director, Producer, Editor) and Chris Reynolds (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) are a Brooklyn-based wife and husband team that has collaborated creatively since meeting on a film set in Dallas in 2000. They each have over twenty-five years of filmmaking experience, learning the craft from the ground up working as crew members on projects large and small. GOWANUS CURRENT will be their first documentary feature.