Watch “Denali” the Best of Festival Winner at the 5Point Film Festival

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There's no easy way to say goodbye to a friend, especially when they've supported you through your darkest times.

Directed, edited and written by Ben Knight of Felt Soul Media.

(via: The Cleanest Line)

Break the Rules: A Conversation with Ben Knight

The Music Bed Communty with an excellent interview of Felt Soul's Ben Knight.

How far are you willing to go for your films? Are you willing to break the law? Get arrested? Spend 18 hours hiding from helicopters to get a single shot of a dam exploding? For Ben Knight, one of the filmmakers behind the recent (and excellent) documentary DamNation, the answer is yes.

“Pretty much everything we did in the film was illegal,” Ben told us. “Every single day we were trespassing.”

But Ben is no stranger to working around the system. After dropping out of high school during his senior year, Ben carved out a career for himself as a photojournalist before finally transitioning into documentary filmmaking. He’s living proof there is no “right way” to get into this type of work. Ben’s lack of concern for the “rules” has become an asset. The monomania that made him a bad student has turned him into a visionary filmmaker.

We recently talked with Ben about his career, his activism, and how far he was willing to go to make a film about dams.

Here’s Ben.

DamNation: Undercover

Why bother making a film about dams if you don’t have footage of one blowing up?

Especially footage obtained in monkey wrench fashion by filmmaker Ben Knight.

LINK (via: Mountain Film)

“DamNation” Film Wins Enviro Prize

DamNation was presented with the “Documentary Award for Environmental Advocacy,” and a $10,000 cash prize, by the 2014 Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

LINK (via:National Geographic)

SXSW Film Audience Award Winners Announced

Care to guess which film won in the documentary spotlight category?

Here's a KUT News interview with Ben Knight and Matt Stoecker.

"I was taught at a young age, if you make a mess, you clean it up" - Yvon Chouinard

The world premier of Damnation took place yesterday at SXSW.

This powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has moved beyond the fictional Monkey Wrench Gang to go mainstream. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds, after decades without access. DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature.

We like to fish.

We like to eat.

We like to get outside.

Free flowing, healthy rivers support this.

Make your voice heard by signing the petition calling on President Obama to crack down on deadbeat dams.