Maysles Cinema Wednesdays at Nowadays Presents: 

What Lies Upstream

Cullen Hoback, 2017, 89 min
Investigative filmmaker Cullen Hoback's poignant examination of the 2014 water crisis in the "Chemical Valley" of West Virginia delicately disseminates the facade of government-based environmental protection. Acting as the necessarily concerned water detective, along with a team of independent scientists and regulation enforcement officials, Hoback traces patterns of bureaucratic manipulation, irresponsible regulation implementation and scientific deception that calls into question the very institutions established to protect people. This up-to-the-minute film is a startling revelation that the threat of water contamination is not limited to the isolated incidences such as Flint Michigan and Charleston West Virginia. It extends to everyone who drinks water, making us all subject to What Lies Upstream.