Video: “A Reason to Fish”

Here’s the first film from the Just Add Water Project, a series of online film showings and discussions that are part of an ongoing effort to break down barriers to the outdoors. The goal is to increase representation of diverse and traditionally under-represented populations in outdoor media, which will promote participation in outdoor pursuit by folks who will now see themselves in the stars of these films.

Una Razon Para Pescar (A Reason to Fish) is a joint production of Sharptail Media (Orvis’s SImon Perkins) and Backroad Creative. Here’s a description of the film:

Dan Diez loves to fish. It’s the reason why he spends many long nights under bridges in Miami fly fishing out of a canoe for giant tarpon. On the surface, his passion flows from the thrills and wonder of a heart-pounding experience with rod and fly that connects him intimately with the natural world. However, at a deeper level, the passion is rooted in a story—a story about Dan and his grandfather—that involves traditions born in Cuba, political imprisonment, the search for a new home, and a relationship with water that symbolizes a freedom often taken for granted.

The Just Add Water Project will host three more online film events and discussions, each Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific. Upcoming films include

River of Return, For Sammy and Jessica Matsaw, there is no divide between humans and the Earth. Their people, the Shoshone-Bannock, are part of the ecology of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River

• River of Return–For Sammy and Jessica Matsaw, there is no divide between humans and the Earth. Their people, the Shoshone-Bannock, are part of the ecology of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
• Water Flows Together–Colleen Cooley is a female Navajo river guide, who feels a deep kinship with indigenous lands and the San Juan River, which flows along the edge of Bears Ears National Monument.
• This Land–A story about land access told through a journey of inclusion and empowerment. 

To sign up for these online events, visit the Just Add Water Project homepage.