American Water is a short documentary which focuses on two people, Glenda and Red Beard, who live and work alongside the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, in southern Illinois. Glenda runs ‘Fred’s Fish Market’ from a small wooden shack next to the levees protecting the town of Cairo. Red Beard ekes out a living in the backwoods of Thebes, on the banks of the Mississippi. Both Glenda and Red Beard talk with disarming candour and shrewd folk-wisdom about the traditional culture, declining economy and fragile ecology of this ‘heartland’ region bordering the American South.

American Water is a portrait of two spirited individuals existing on the margins of society, where two mighty rivers meet, in a forgotten corner of the United States.

Official Selection: BFI London Film Festival 2011; Swedenborg Short Film Festival 2011; Edge of the City 2012; Tales From Planet Earth 2012; Encounters Short Film Festival 2012; Take One Action, Glasgow, 2012; Film of the Month: Independent Cinema Office (ICO)