"Bad River" Film Screening

Date and Time:
Thu, Jul 24, 2025; 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM  (Central)

Organized By: North Star Chapter

Location: 2820 E 33rd St, Minneapolis, MN 55406, USA

Map | Directions

Event Organizers:
Whitney Terrill
   whitney.terrill@sierraclub.org
   (651) 855-8814

Please register for the film here: https://www.trylon.org/film/bad-river/

(2024, 98m) Bad River, narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Academy-Award nominee, Edward Norton; written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio; and produced by Grant Hill (Owner of the Atlanta Hawks) and Allison Abner (writer for Narcos, West Wing and descendant of the Stockbridge Munsee Band), is a new documentary film which chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty, a story which unfolds in a groundbreaking way through a series of shocking revelations, devastating losses, and a powerful legacy of defiance and resilience, which includes a David vs. Goliath battle to save Lake Superior, the largest freshwater resource in America. As Eldred Corbine, a Bad River Tribal Elder declares: “We gotta protect it… die for it, if we have to.”

Called “a powerful chronicle” by Bill McKibben (writer for The New Yorker), profoundly moving” by film critic Liz Braun, “a 10 out of 10” by film critic Vincent Schilling, and “brilliant” by David Corn of Mother Jones, BAD RIVER has already had remarkable impact, launched theatrically in partnership with AMC Theatres in 25 major markets across the country. The film lasted nearly two months in theaters (a rare feat for an independent documentary). “We haven’t seen lines out the door like this since Barbie,” said the manager of the Ashland Bay Cinema in Wisconsin, who also reported that BAD RIVER outperformed major Hollywood releases for 8 successive weekends. People also took to social media about incredible efforts they made to see the film on the big screen, flying to nearby states where the film was showing, and driving upwards of 6 hours to the closest movie theater, all of which speak to the power of this project. Leonardo DiCaprio posted our trailer (which definitely provided a boost), along with Jason Momoa, Mark Ruffalo, Edward Norton (our narrator) and Channing Tatum. The film has been nominated for three Critic’s Choice Awards, and won an EMA Award for Best Documentary from the Environmental Media Association.

This screening is sponsored by the Sierra Club North Star Chapter. This screening is a part of efforts to move beyond oil (sierraclub.org/minnesota/beyond-oil), and to support the connections between energy and indigenous sovereignty.