UPDATE December 19th, 2013

Wow! We are thrilled to announce that our funding goal has been reached! We want to thank everyone that contributed to the campaign; we can hardly believe that we have been fortunate enough to receive this much support. Three years ago this project started as a dream and now, thanks to your help, we will be able to make it a reality.

We still have 19 days left with our Indiegogo account. We can continue to accept donations online until January 6 and any funds received will help us to take this project even further. With additional financing, we can pay more entrance fees to enter the documentary into more film festivals and venues in Mexico and the US.

Thank you again, we are incredibly excited to get started working on this project and to help heal the Rio Santiago! For all of you who expecting to receive prizes, they should be coming your way within a few weeks.

UPDATE December 17th, 2013

Alright! Thanks to all our donors so far! With all the support coming in from all over the world we are less than $2,000 from our goal with 20 days left. Please keep sharing with your friends and family!

A few people have asked, “Where exactly is the Rio Grande de Santiago?” We’ve posted a map here to help you get an idea of the territory this 562-kilometer journey will travel through.

• Map: The Rio Grande de Santiago begins where the Rio Lerma ends in Lake Chapala and flows 562 km to the ocean near San Blas, Nayarit.

Another exciting new update: we were featured in one of the largest newspapers in Guadalajara, the Mural. Andrés Martínez wrote an amazing article about our efforts to create a documentary about one of the most polluted and most important rivers in Mexico.

John Pint also wrote a great article in the Guadalajara Reporter, the English newspaper for the expat community in Jalisco (see below). We are feeling very optimistic about reaching our goal! A huge thanks to everyone for your support and donations!

UPDATE December 1st, 2013

• Photo: Chemical effluent in a side tributary near Guadalajara (it's too bad photos can't capture the smell!).
  

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who has shown support! We have received donations and words of support from our friends, family and communities in Jalisco, Colorado and Idaho (and elsewhere). We are now 28% of the way there. Thank you!

We still have a ways to go to make this documentary happen! 50 years ago people that lived near the river could fish and bathe in its waters; now no one dares touch it (see the minute and a half interview with local Pedro Ramos Ramírez of Paso de Guadalupe). 

We want to help give a voice to the river and people who live near it to put pressure on the government to make meaningful changes.

We need your support! We want to create a documentary about a river trip from source to sea of this potentially beautiful river over the course of a month. To learn the full story read below...

• Photo: The confluence of the Río Grande de Santiago with the Río Verde near Guadalajara (the Río Santiago is on the right).
  

A journey to film one of the most important and most polluted rivers in Mexico, the Río Grande de Santiago.

This is going to be disgusting... A journey to expose one of the most polluted rivers in Mexico, the Rio Grande de Santiago. Most people have never heard of it and yet it affects millions in Mexico and millions more beyond the country's border. Your lettuce, your tomatoes, your avocados may have come from water in the Santiago's watershed. 

Historically this river and its major tributary, the Rio Lerma, have been the most polluted and misused rivers in Mexico. Under-treated wastewater is dumped directly into the river. Along with untreated waste, the Lerma/ Santiago receives the by-products from pulp and paper mills, leather processing plants, petrochemical and chemical plants. There are also fertilizers and chemicals introduced by meat, dairy, and produce farms in the basin. (If you are interested in knowing more about what is polluting the river check out this report from Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario Report on Violations to the Right to Health).

Our nearly 300 mile trip will begin in Lake Chapala near the city of Guadalajara and trace the river to the sea near the city of San Blas in Nayarit. The expedition will take at least three weeks near the end of the rainy season in August 2014. This will require lots of determination and perseverance as we overcome obstacles such as dams, unknown rapids, eutrophicated stretches of plant blockades, and avoiding possible sickness.

Along this journey we will create a 25 to 40 minute documentary highlighting the insurmountable beauty of the Santiago's canyons and the tragic state of the river's health.

We will document and interview local residents and stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of the effects the river plays in the areas we visit. The video will be shot and edited in a similar way to the video link above to bring a vibrant life to the story of the Rio Grande de Santiago. 

Bringing awareness to this vital river system is the first step in restoring it. As a resident of Guadalajara, Mexico, this video will be screened in the second largest Mexican city through film festivals, universities, and school programs. We will also invoke international awareness by bringing the film to various film festivals such as Banff Film Festival, Telluride Mountainfilm, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, and the Environmental Film Festival at Yale.

Your donation will go towards the following project needs:

• $4,300 travel expenses (driving a rig with trailer for rafts from Idaho to Jalisco and back and plane tickets)
• $2,600 on river expenses (food, shuttle, water, portaging dams, respirators)
• $1,100 prize expenses
• $1,000 film festival entry fees

Your donation will not go towards boating gear or expedition equipment.

We are passionate about the health of this river because we live and recreate in the city of Guadalajara. Seeing what could be an area of unmatched beauty in the heart of Mexico turned into a wasteland has ignited a unrelenting passion to produce this documentary and share this story with the world. Sam Morrison, AJ Lawrence, Tom Morrison, Chris Garcia, and Jonah Grubb have all been river guides in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Rivers are their lifeblood. John McKinley is a successful videographer who spent the last eight years living in Guadalajara. 

Sam

Chris

Tom