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Logline

On a remote island along the Taku River in Southeast Alaska, young men escape their painful childhoods to conserve one of the most integral species in our ecosystem: the wild salmon.

Synopsis

Like Peter Pan’s Neverland, the campsite is a place of eternal youth for these young men as they stave off the encroaching hardships of “real life” — caring for elders, starting families, and pursuing a career path. Their environment encourages them to both embrace and unlearn traditional ideas of masculinity. In searching for an escape from home life, these misfits find family in one another. But, these boys can’t stay on the island forever. When the salmon return to the river as adults, they bring with them an invaluable life lesson: every ending is a new beginning.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Natalie Berger – Co-Director
Natalie Berger is a director, producer, and photographer from the Pacific Northwest, based in Brooklyn, NY. She has directed and produced several short films, including High Noon on the Waterfront, which screened at Telluride Film Festival (2022) and Palm Springs International Shortfest (2023). Additionally, her photography has been featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair. She is currently a Producer at 110th Street Films, a documentary film production company, based in New York City.

Moira Fett – Co-Director
Moira Fett is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn, New York. Her work in both documentary and narrative storytelling seeks to uncover the contours of human behavior under environmental pressures. Her narrative short, Practice, won Best Director at the DTLA Film Festival (2019) and screened at festivals nationwide. In 2018, Moira was awarded the Sally Burns Shenkman Woman Filmmaker Fellowship at the Jacob Burns Film Center where she directed a narrative short, Two Birds (Middlebury Film Festival, 2019). Moira is the assistant to director Susanna Fogel on several projects including The Flight Attendant, Cat Person, and most recently A Small Light.

Martha Gregory – Producer
Martha Gregory is a producer, editor, and professor based in Brooklyn. She is currently working on Paul Felton’s new film starring Lilli Cooper (Spring Awakening) and Chris Eigeman (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Metropolitan) and We Went Undefeated, a multichannel installation/documentary by artist Shaun Leonardo. She is an executive producer on Billy Luther’s Frybread Face and Me which premiered at SXSW 2023 as well as Chloe Abraham’s The Taste of Mango which premiered at TRUE/FALSE 2023. Martha taught at Kenyon College from 2017 to 2020. She is now an adjunct professor at both Fashion Institute of Technology and School of Visual Art in New York. Her short doc, Three Red Sweaters, played at festivals around the world and is a Vimeo Staff Pick.

Sean Weiner – Producer
Sean Weiner is a non-profit arts leader, artist community builder, and film producer based in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York. He spent 17 years at the Jacob Burns Film Center ultimately leading their artist and education programs as Director of Programs, Media Arts Lab. Sean was the Founding Director of Creative Culture, a filmmaker support program built upon a philosophy of inclusion and collaboration that provided filmmaker fellowships for emerging professionals and immersive residencies for international filmmaking teams. Sean is an assistant professor in Film & Media Studies at Purchase College. He has produced, edited, and mentored award-winning films selected by Sundance, Berlinale, and SXSW, and acquired by Criterion, Searchlight, HBOMax, POV, The New Yorker, and New York Times’ Op-Docs.

Logan O’Shea – Story Consultant
Logan O’Shea, a member of the Tlingit Tribe, is from Atlin, British Columbia and has worked for the Taku River Tlingit First Nation for almost a decade. He began his work on Canyon Island as a representative of his People at the age of 16 where he implemented his knowledge of the region, salmon migration along the Taku River, and conservation strategies. In 2021, he began his involvement in Upstream as a participant, and has since come on board the team in an official capacity as Story Consultant.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.