River Dog documentary Premiere

Paramount Theatre, Wellington
Wed. March 9th, 8.30pm
Tickets $10

RIVER DOG: Short Synopsis
In the remote New Zealand countryside the underbelly of a farming community continues to pollute the water and destroy the last remaining natural values of the Pahaoa River. Yet, not all is lost.
One farmer and his team of dogs challenge the status quo, battling against all odds to keep the river clean, protect the wildlife and to simply survive in this isolated and lawless land.

RIVER DOG: Story background
The remote Eastern hill country of New Zealand is a landscape embedded deep in the psyche of all New Zealanders, a romantic pastoral idyll that shapes our national identity. Unfortunately, that landscape of our collective memory is being perverted and destroyed. The Pahaoa River is just one of many rural waterways that are filled with cattle and sheep that are destroying what remains of its health and natural beauty.

This practice of allowing cattle to graze in rivers is widespread in New Zealand, as freshwater and landscape integrity is degraded by farmers who act with impunity to diminish the resources which all life relies upon to survive.

However not all is damaged and not all is lost.

Grant Muir is a farmer who as a lone figure casts a watchful eye over the river and the natural values of the landscape he lives in. Grant moved to Hinekura in the Wairarapa about 9 years ago where he was shocked to see firsthand the destructive practices of his neighbours as they fenced their stock onto the river that runs through his property, polluting the water, destroying the native habitat and all the animals that lived in it. This example made Grant vow to protect what he could of the Pahaoa River and its natural values. His stance saw him ostracised in the community and labelled as a ‘Greenie’ and a troublemaker. The local farmers hated him for being different and pushed their stock onto his property, which he had been working to restore. Grant began to round up and chase off the neighbours’ stock with his team of huntaway working dogs. It is only with their diligence and companionship that Grant has managed to save his property time and time again from neighbouring stock intrusions.

With policies written in the RMA and the Regional Freshwater Plan the Wellington Regional Council (WRC) are legally obliged to protect our freshwater. However, the WRC have chosen to do nothing about the Pahaoa River. When TV3’s Campbell Live covered the story in Feb 2009, WRC spokesman Nigel Corry appeared on national news saying that the pollution would be stopped, assuring the public that the WRC would protect the Pahaoa River, as they are obliged to do so.

Over two years later and still nothing has been done. Grant is still patrolling the river with his dogs and now the main polluters are empowered by the fact that they can act with impunity. Nigel Corry, Alistair Cross and Geoff Ewington of WRC who administer and enforce environmental regulations have written reports in support of the farmers continued pollution of the Pahaoa River. It has recently been revealed that some of the most degraded riverbank is under council management. Those in the WRC who are entrusted to protect our natural resources have refused to confront the issue. Where does this leave us as a nation that takes pride in our identity with the land’s natural values? We have an urgent situation that needs attention and the Pahaoa River is just a small example of the problems we face for the future of our freshwater. This water belongs to all of us, not to a handful of negligent farmers.

River Dog is Grant’s story, a snapshot of his life on the river, the companionship of his dogs and the beauty of the landscape and the nature of New Zealand. Grant takes us through his struggles and shows us what it is that he protects and what we have to lose as a nation if this senseless pollution is allowed to continue.
The toll that this struggle takes on him and his isolated life is hard for him to bear yet he stands firm and carries on fighting for what he knows is right in the face of all adversity. Grant continues to do what he can to protect his part of the river with his dogs in the hope that one day things will change and that one day someone else will join him and care for the land and water that we all hold dear.

River Dog is a commercial half hour documentary, made as part of the Masters degree in Natural History Filmmaking at Otago University 2010.

Character Biography
Grant Muir

Grant Muir is a farmer, an artist and a small business owner/operator. Grant has a small farm on the banks of the Pahaoa River in the Eastern hill country of the South
Wairarapa district of New Zealand. He came here in 2002 to downsize his farming practice and live in a beautiful, remote environment with his family of huntaway working dogs that are both his companions and sheep dogs.
Grant has been a farmer/orchardist and an artist for most of his life. His artistic inspiration comes principally from the New Zealand landscape and the farming way of life.

Grant believes in the protection and maintenance of biodiversity within sustainable agro-ecosystems, and in the human right of access to clean, fresh water. He has been a whistleblower in the Wairarapa district bringing public and media attention to the state of our rivers and to the continued rural attitudes that ignore the importance of freshwater and native biodiversity to human and ecosystem health.
Grant loves animals and advocates the protection of natural places but does not consider himself a ‘hippie’ or a ‘greenie’. Grant is well educated, informed, passionate and an outgoing person who fits the description of a ‘typical kiwi bloke’ and ‘man of the land’. His grassroots sensibilities allow him to connect with and communicate through the channels of the rural farming community. He understands the needs of the farmers and putting their needs in perspective finds their attitudes and practices of land management unnecessary and archaic. Grant is one of the few people who can legitimately comment on the practices of a New Zealand farming community that are knowingly destroying the environment.

Director’s Biography
James Muir

James Muir is an artist, photographer, teacher and now a filmmaker with a passion for telling unique New Zealand stories. River Dog is his second short documentary film and was made with fellow filmmaker Oscar Daniel Hunter. James has been painting and illustrating for more than 13 years having had exhibitions throughout New
Zealand since 1997. Whilst attending Massey Fine Art School James sought the amalgamation of science and art to tell stories that could affect the way in which we care for the natural world. Having completed a degree in Zoology, a diploma in teaching and a Masters in Natural History Filmmaking, James continues to seek better ways in which emotive and empathic connections can be cemented between art and the audience. Having found this in the medium of film, James hopes to continue his career as an artist provoking thought and promoting change.
James' first short film, Night Shift, was officially selected for the 2010 Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival. River Dog has now been officially selected for both the Reel Earth and Byron Bay Film Festivals in 2011.

Film Trailer
http://www.vimeo.com/16829706