October 22, 2018
by Dr. Andy Opel
Stories From The Apalachicola; An Endangered River, the one hour documentary that premieres on WFSU-TV on 10/25 at 8pm is the result of over two years of collaboration between faculty, students and many volunteers and staff from the Apalachicola Riverkeeper. Beginning with a conversation over dinner in the spring of 2016, Georgia Ackerman and I agreed to try to bring some of FSU’s resources to help raise awareness about what had been designated by American Rivers as “America’s #1 most endangered river”. The result was the Apalachicola River Project, a four course, five faculty, 130 student collaboration with the Apalachicola Riverkeeper during the spring semester 2017. With class presentations from Georgia Ackerman and Dan Tonsmiere, kayak and hiking trip support from numerous volunteers from partner groups like Big Bend Sierra Club and Tall Timbers, and many student trips to the river, almost every student involved in the project had the opportunity to experience the river firsthand, collecting water and soil samples, interviewing local residents, or paddling a boat for the first time.Â
My Digital Media Production majors shot many hours of 4K video footage and produced nine short pieces covering topics from history to politics, ecology to economy (you can see them all on the project website). There was such a wealth of strong material that Georgia and I decided that we should try to work with WFSU and produce a one hour documentary that combined all these materials. With the help of a small grant from the Florida Humanities Council and the dedicated work of a couple of students, we were able to shoot some additional material and assemble this documentary.
This has been a very productive collaboration that produced amazing opportunities for students and built some enduring bridges between FSU and the local community. Working with Georgia, Dan, the other faculty and students has been a fun and rewarding process that has produced some great work along the way. I am excited to see this film come to completion and I hope audiences across the southeast and beyond gain a deeper appreciation about this complex river system that is so vital to north Florida.
Andy Opel is a professor at Florida State University. He is the Director of the Digital Media Production Program at the School of Communication.
Update by Georgia Ackerman, 10/24/18
170 people turned out at FSU on Tuesday for the sneak preview of the new documentary and panel discussion. Panelists included Samantha Simons, Aleks Iricanin, Danny Goddard and Georgia Ackerman.
   
 
 
 
