“Flood of Memories” Documentary Premiere
2 E. Main Street
The Rexburg Cultural Arts Department is pleased to announce the premiere of “Flood of Memories,” a new documentary that tells the story of the 1976 Teton Dam Flood from the perspectives of those who were there. The film will premiere Monday, September 11 at 7 p.m. at the Romance Theater, 2 E. Main Street Rexburg. Doors open at 6:30.
The film was produced by historian Fred Woods, a religion professor at Brigham Young University, and directed by filmmaker Christian Mawlam, who is a communications professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Woods will introduce the short film, and there will also be a Q&A following the showing.
Woods and Mawlam interviewed more than a dozen people who shared first-hand accounts of the June 5, 1976 disaster when the breaking of the Teton Dam sent 80 billion gallons of water through eastern Idaho, killing 11 people and over 16,000 livestock. The flood destroyed or damaged countless properties throughout east Idaho.
“Flood of Memories” is part of “Saints by State,” a series Woods is producing chronicling the stories of Latter-day Saints from all over the country who have faced adversity with faith. “Flood of Memories” focuses on the first-hand stories of people who lived through the event and witnessed how it affected their communities.
Mawlam says it was important to the filmmaking duo to do this project now while those who experienced the flood were still alive and able to share their memories of an event almost 50 years in the past. Woods and Mawlam recorded many hours of interviews with flood survivors. The documentary is a small collection of excerpts from those interviews, but they plan to use more of the footage for a future museum exhibit in Rexburg.
Along with the film’s premiere, a new painting by artist Maria Oborn will be unveiled. The painting is called “Willing Hearts and Hands,” and was painted for the Teton Flood Museum in Rexburg.
This event is free to the public and suitable for all ages. The film length is approximately a half hour.