In 1978, Mono Lake Committee founder David Gaines toured tirelessly around California with a carousel of slides and a call to help a dying lake.
Our most recent slideshow began running in 1998 and it shared the Mono Lake story with audiences perfectly. However, after 13 years it was in serious need of updating. Making the leap from slides to high-definition film was daunting, but we knew that telling the Mono Lake story the right way was important enough to make that leap.
We found the film team, Bristlecone Media, after seeing a short film they produced for our neighbor non-profit Friends of the Inyo. From the very first meeting Ryan Christensen's and Jonah Matthewson's interpretive experience and passion for Mono Lake seemed like a perfect fit.
Right away we decided to tell the story through interviews instead of a single narrator. This was a challenge—we set up interviews with more than 20 people and Bristlecone Media ultimately collected over 50 hours of interview footage, which they wove together to tell the story. The resulting framework shows how deeply so many people have connected with this place and offers a fitting, grassroots telling of the story.
Ryan and Jonah recommended Los Angeles-based composer Cody Westheimer for the musical score, knowing that his extensive experience scoring films, TV shows, and documentaries would prove valuable. Cody, who is also passionate about conservation, visited the lake for inspiration and wrote original music to complement the storyline. In fact, he was so inspired by the stories of David Gaines playing the mandolin that he picked one up to add to the mix.
The film is making an impact farther afield. Due to our film permit, we cannot sell the DVD. However, it is available for anyone who joins the Committee's Guardians of the Lake monthly membership program. We also offer DVDs to educators. So far we have sent the film to 50 teachers and professors representing second grade through graduate school. Those teachers are located in 14 different states and one foreign country—Serbia. Most inspiring of all, these teachers will be sharing the story of Mono Lake with over 4,500 students this year!
We are so pleased to see people emerge from the theater to sign up as members, sometimes with tears in their eyes. We feel gratified to see our mailbox full of requests for the film from teachers across the country. We love hearing families making plans to visit the lakeshore after watching the film. Our primary goal was to inspire people to become part of the Mono Lake story—it's working.
1. Join the Guardians of the Lake You get one for free when you join the Guardians of the Lake, the Mono Lake Committee's monthly giving program. Contact Membership Coordinator Ellen King at (760) 647-6595 to become a Guardian.
2. Are you an educator? Are you a teacher, professor, or educator? You can get a copy of the Mono Lake Story DVD for use in your classroom. Simply print out this request form, fill it out, and mail it back to us here at the Mono Lake Committee. We'll put a DVD into the mail for you. Members of Sierra Club groups or Audubon chapters can get a DVD too; just fill out and mail the same form.
We found the film team, 
