Can't Stop the Water
in production

“The White Man pushed us to the end of the earth. Now Mother Nature wants to push us back.”
– Chief Albert Naquin

For 170 years, a Native American Cajun community has occupied a tiny island deep in the bayous of south Louisiana called Isle de Jean Charles. They have fished, hunted, and lived off the land. Now the land that has sustained them for generations is vanishing before their eyes. A host of environmental problems – coastal erosion, lack of soil renewal, oil company and government canals, and sea level rise from global warming – are overwhelming the island. Over the last fifty years, Isle de Jean Charles has been gradually shrinking, and it is now almost gone.

The BP oil spill left millions of gallons of oil in the waters surrounding the island, halting the livelihoods of many islanders, who work as fishermen, shrimpers, and oystermen. Those who vowed to stay on the island until it completely washed away now face an even more uncertain future.

For these Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, their land is more than simply a place to live. It is the epicenter of their people and traditions. It is where, for eight generations, their ancestors cultivated a unique part of Louisiana culture. Our film tells their story.