‘Return of the River’

What: 70-minute film detailing removal of Elwha River dams

Directors: John Gussman and Jessica Plumb

Sequim showing: 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, at Sequim High School auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.

Tickets: $8 or $6 for seniors, students

On the web: www.elwhafilm.com

For John Gussman, the story of the Elwha River and its dams seemed to touch everybody — the scientists and the politicians and the tribe members, the people passionate about taking the river’s two dams down and others just as passionate about keeping them standing.

“They’re all connected by a river,” says Gussman, a Sequim resident and professional photographer for more than four decades. “It’s true that in a global way, we are all dependent on this planet.”

After spending four years of putting the largest dam removal in history to film, Gussman and Jessica Plumb’s film, “Return of the River,” is bringing their passion for telling the Elwha’s story across the region.

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Sequim residents can catch one of two screenings (4 p.m. and 6 p.m.) of the 70-minute documentary at Sequim High School’s auditorium. The movie will be followed by Q & A time with filmmaker John Gussman in the cafeteria. Concessions will be available for purchase.

“Return of the River,” Gussman says, is a story of hope.

“If we can do this here, maybe we can do this somewhere else,” he says.

Completed in February and in the public eye since September, “Return of the River” is gaining momentum as the film is distributed throughout the Northwest and beyond. It tallied seven film festival awards in its first seven weeks (Port Townsend Film Festival, Wine Country Festival, Sonoma, Calif.; Adventure Film Festival, Boulder, Colo., among others) and is earning spots on dozens of screens across the West (see www.elwhafilm.com/calendar).

Gussman began the project nearly five years ago with the intent of making a feature film. A Sequim resident for 35 years, Gussman has run his business, Doubleclick Productions (see www.dcproductions.com), since 1982. An avid outdoorsman, he married his work and play when he saw the opportunity to record the Elwha project in 2010.

The challenge, he says now, wasn’t getting the footage. That part, he says, was a pleasure.

“It wasn’t like I was a guy from Seattle on assignment. I love this stuff,” Gussman says.

Instead, the toughest part for Gussman was tracking down all the major players and getting them to talk.

“We wanted it to be balanced. It’s a complex story so we had to get viewpoints from all sides,” he says. “It’s like having a jigsaw puzzle. ‘Now, make this a pretty picture.’”

In late 2012, Plumb — a peninsula resident for the past decade — contacted Gussman to talk about his project and how she might fit in. Plumb has worked on documentary and narrative films screened at festivals in the role of editor, and behind the camera has created award-winning short films. Her video art films have been screened in galleries throughout the United States (see www.plumbproductions.com).

Gussman found he and Plumb shared the same passion for the Elwha story.

“Her skills balance out my skills perfectly,” Gussman says of Plumb. “She’s a great writer and secured most of the major funding. We like to say, ‘I’m the eyes of the Elwha and she’s the voice.’

But, Gussman notes, “You have to have a team behind you. There’s no way two people could do this on their own.”

That meant contacting and hiring pros like color and sound experts, film consultants and others. Now, Gussman and Plumb are busy in a whole new world of the film industry: distribution.

Started out of and funded for much of the past four years from Gussman’s own pocket, the “Return” project got a boost through Kickstarter, a global crowdfunding platform, and some grants.

“It took on a life of its own,” Gussman says. “I was the right guy at the right time and the right place.”

The film has earned high praise from several figures deeply connected to the Elwha from author/Seattle Times journalist Lynda V. Mapes — “With its stunning photography, in-depth historical background and deeply-imbued tribal perspective, ‘Return of the River’ is the documentary film that lives up to the grandeur of the Elwha, its renewal and its promise” — and local author Tim McNulty, who called the film “visually dazzling, lyrically evocative, and fluid as mountain snowmelt.”

The Sequim filmmaker is hoping to get it on as many screens as possible and hopefully with some television broadcast time.

Gussman has seen the impact the film — and the Elwha story — has on an audience, seeing people weep following a screening.

“As an artist, you have a unique way of seeing things,” Gussman says. “If you can connect that with somebody else, it’s great.”