Nevada City, Calif. January 18, 2019 – The 17th annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival will feature movies from all over the world – and one from right up the street.
Nevada City based Sierra Watch will star in this year’s fest when The Movie to Keep Squaw True screens on Saturday January 19th. It captures the epic struggle to keep a famed Tahoe Mountain from turning into a Vegas-style amusement park, and it’s the perfect fit for a film festival designed to inspire and motivate its outdoor-loving audience.
“We’re big fans of the Wild and Scenic Film Festival,” says Tom Mooers of Sierra Watch. “And we’re looking forward to showing the world how we work together to Keep Squaw True.”
For seven years, Sierra Watch has been locked in the biggest development fight in the Sierra Nevada. Ski conglomerate Alterra Mountain Company threatens to remake North Tahoe with massive development – a series of high-rise condo hotels, a roller coaster, and a 90,000 square-foot indoor waterpark that would be wide as a Walmart and nearly three times as tall.
The project would take 25 years to construct and add thousands of car trips to Tahoe’s already crowded roads. But Alterra’s development scheme has run into a mountain of determined opposition, organized as the movement to Keep Squaw True.
Legendary Tahoe filmmakers Robb and Scott Gaffney have captured the dramatic struggle in The Movie to Keep Squaw True.
“This is not a time to keep quiet,” says Robb Gaffney. “It’s a time to show the world who we are and to work together to Keep Squaw True.”
“There is so much of a story to tell here,” adds his brother, Scott. “And I’m proud to be doing it.”
The movie has been received by enthusiastic audiences in sold-out shows up and down the Sierra – in Truckee, June Lake, and Tahoe City. Now it’s Nevada City’s turn, with a screening Saturday afternoon at the historic Odd Fellow’s Lodge – just a block away from Sierra Watch headquarters.
More screenings are scheduled in four western states: January 30th in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; February 20th in Auburn, California; February 28th in Park City, Utah; March 5th in Davis, CA; and April 4th in Reno, Nevada.