DER Documentary
Marion Stoddart: The Work of 1000
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by Susan Edwards and Dorie Clark
color, 30 min, 2010
Pricing information and conditions
In the 1960s, the Nashua River in New Hampshire and central Massachusetts was one of the 10 most polluted in the country, clogged with multicolored, toxic sludge from nearby paper mills.
Around that time, housewife Marion Stoddart moved to the area with her family, so close to the river they could smell its noxious fumes. At a low point in her life, she decided to fight her own emptiness by taking on the biggest challenge she could find - cleaning up the Nashua. Her dramatic success in mobilizing the community showed people that change was possible, even though they'd lost hope.
Marion's efforts helped get the Massachusetts Clean Rivers Act passed so that companies weren't allowed to pollute rivers like the Nashua anymore. In the process, she won a United Nations award, was profiled in National Geographic, and had a widely-read children's book written about her. Her secret? An ordinary person can do extraordinary things when they refuse to give up.
Thanks to Marion, children in the Nashua River Watershed and around the world have come to understand that one person can make a difference, even when the odds seem impossible.
Related Resources
www.workof1000.org
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Owners of the Water: Conflict and Collaboration Over Rivers ("ö Tede'wa")
Bendum: In the Heart of Mindanao
Film Festivals, Screenings, Awards
The Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival, 2012
Sedona International Film Festival, 2012
14th Arpa International Film Festival, Armenia, 2011
Bend Film Festival, 2011
Projecting Change Film Festival, Vancouver BC, Canada, 2011
Berkshire International Film Festival, Great Barrington, MA, 2011
Humboldt Film Festival, Arcata, CA, 2011
Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 2011
Talking Pictures Festival, Evanston, IL, 2011
Switzer Foundation Fellows Spring Retreat and Study Tour:
"A Case Study of Community Revitalization and River Restoration: The Nashua River", 2011
Women's Film Festival, Brattleboro, Vermont, 2011
Los Angeles International Film Festival, West Hollywood CA, 2011
Urban River Restoration and Cities of the Future Conference, Cambridge, MA, 2010
Green Screen Environmental Film Festival, Venice, CA, 2010
