The Global Ecological Cinema Podcast
from the Portland EcoFilm Festival

Episode Nine: THE RIVER REMEMBERS with Vanessa Castle & Noelani Auguston

Release Date: September 24, 2026

Contains no spoilers and is appropriate for people of all ages

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English (Coming Soon)| Español (Próximamente)

THE RIVER REMEMBERS is a feature-length documentary that follows Tribal members of the Elwha and lower Klamath Rivers as they lead the largest dam removals in U.S.A. history, restoring salmon and renewing culture after a century of struggle. Produced by Indigenous-led Setting Sun Circle Productions (formerly Children of the Setting Sun), it’s a story of resilience and hope, showing that when rivers heal, people heal too. Anchored in the experiences of Vanessa Castle and Frankie and Molli Meyers, the film braids together intimate family stories and select sweeping historical battles: parents teaching their children to fish, catastrophic salmon kills that galvanized action and generations who refused to give up a century-long fight.

The Portland EcoFilm Festival was honored to premiere THE RIVER REMEMBERS as an official selection in our 2026 Indigenous Voices Series. 

On this episode, we visit with one of the film's main characters, Vanessa Castle, and writer and producer Noelani Auguston. Vanessa is an Elwha Klallam Tribal member, fisherwoman, conservationist, and mother who lives on the lower Elwha Reservation.

Noelani, a writer and producer with Setting Sun Circle Productions, is a member of Shxhwa:y Village, Nooksack, and Hawaiian.

We discuss:

• The ethics of telling Indigenous stories on film

• Science and filmmaking as means of correcting historical inaccuracies and cultural erasure

• Storytelling as medicine and the importance of uplifting Indigenous voices

• Intergenerational healing and the real work of dam removal

• Indigenous filmmaking as a cinema of remembrance

• And more

Film Recommendations

Noelani and Vanessa’s ecological film recommendations from this episode are:

THE BREACH | (2014 | Dir. Mark Titus) is available to rent at the world’s best video store, Movie Madness, in Portland, Oregon.

THE WILD | (2019 | Dir. Mark Titus)

THE TURN (2026 | Dir. Mark Titus)

OUR PLANET (2019 and 2023 | Series created by Alastair Fothergill & Keith Scholey)

GATHER (2020 | Dir. Sanjay Rawal)

WILD HOPE (Series created by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios)

HEART OF A LION (2025 | Dir. Joe Pontecorvo)

THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS (2022 | Dir. Kartiki Gonsalves)

SALMON PEOPLE: PRESERVING A WAY OF LIFE (2024 | Dirs. Darrel Hillaire & Beth Basa Pielert)

RESIDENT ORCA (2024 | Dirs. Sarah Sharkey Pearce and Simon Schneider)

Our theme music is from the song “Earth Worship” by the amazing band, Rubblebucket.

The Portland EcoFilm Festival is a signature program of the Hollywood Theatre, Portland's premier modern-historic movie palace.

Our podcast is hosted, edited, and produced by Rozzell Medina.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Film Forever Northwest or its affiliates.