A sold-out Cascade Theatre audience watched the ACID film by award-winning local filmmaker Tyler Faires of Faires Wheel Films. Here, Faires says a few words before the film begins. Photo courtesy of Viva Downtown.
Sheets of rain. Pelting, pounding, pea-sized hail. Booms of thunder. Electric bolts of zigzagged lightning that sliced and diced a darkened North State sky blanketed with roiling, undulating clouds.
Saturday, those were among the freakishly unusual weather displays that converged upon Shasta County, a place renowned for its blistering, triple-digit summer temperatures that can soar as high as a recent record-breaking 119 degrees.
The uncharacteristic stormy weather seemed a fitting prelude to the evening’s showing at the Cascade Theatre of the award-winning documentary, ACID Canal – Discovering the True Cost of Water, by Redding filmmaker Tyler Faires of Faires Wheel Films.
The storm had passed by the time eager crowds were lined up outside Redding’s historic Art Deco Cascade Theatre. The formerly threatening clouds had largely dispersed, leaving behind slick sidewalks, dripping leaves and the heady, intoxicating primal scent of rain.
In some ways Saturday’s dramatic, nearly unprecedented August downpour was a stark reminder of how we humans are at the mercy of Mother Nature’s fickle weather whims: She can bring excessive water and cause floods, or she can withhold water and cause droughts, and everything in between.
The lack of water during the 2022 drought was a pivotal character in Faires’ 87-minute-long film. Here’s how the documentary is described by Collective Eye Films, an educational film distribution company:
“Get ready for a gripping and emotional ride through the heart of Northern California in “ACID Canal,” the groundbreaking new documentary that sheds light on one of the worst droughts in the region’s history. When the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District (A.C.I.D.) is informed that they won’t receive their full water allocation for the 2022 irrigation season, the community is left reeling. As ranchers are forced to sell off their livelihoods, residential wells dry up, and wildlife preserves become barren wastelands, one man, independent rancher James Rickert, decides to take matters into his own hands.
With a fierce determination to preserve the community he loves, James runs for a seat on the A.C.I.D. board, despite facing stiff competition from the incumbent and better-funded candidate. As James dives deep into the impact of the drought on the community, he unites with fellow ranchers and government agencies to search for solutions. But the road to victory is fraught with challenges, including backroom deals and dirty politics.
Against all odds, James emerges victorious, winning a seat on the board alongside four other community members. And just when it seems like all hope is lost, the rains finally return, bringing life-giving water back to the once-dried out ditches. “ACID Canal” is a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity, and a must-watch for anyone who cares about the future of our planet. Check out the first feature film by production company Faires Wheel Films and Directed by Tyler Faires.”
Here’s the trailer:
By the way, if you missed Saturday’s showing of ACID Canal, and would like to see it, Faires said to watch for future opportunities to watch the documentary via a few streaming video platforms, such as Apple.
Worldwide acclaim
Tyler Faires at work. Photo courtesy of Faires Wheel Films.
Faires is a cinematographer and editor who studied at The Art Institute of Los Angeles. Faires has more than 10 years of experience working on documentaries and commercial production. Founded in 2008, Faires Wheel Films specializes in documentaries and promotional films.
The ACID Canal film has brought notoriety to not just Shasta County and the ACID Canal, but Faires and his team. ACID Canal has been viewed all over the world, and continues to rake in the awards. But when it came time for Faires and two of his team mates to speak on stage during the Q&A session following Saturday’s film, Faires – a humble, soft-spoken man inclined to give credit to others — never once boasted or dropped such impressive names as 2024 winner of the Cannes World Film Festival (Best Environmental Film).
The current list of ACID Canal awards reveals a who’s who of film industry festivals, and the awards keep coming.
Official Selection and Winner: 2023 Asian Independent Film Festival (Best Director)
2024 Cannes World Film Festival (Best Environmental Film)
2023 International Independent Film Awards (Gold Award Winner)
2023 Better Earth International Film Festival
2023 Sacramento International Film Festival
Semi-Finalist: 2023 Belgrade International Film Festival and 2024 Portland EcoFilm Fest
Official Selection: 2024 Phoenix Film Festival
2023 Cinema Verde Film Festival
2023 Montreal Independent Film Festival
2023 Green Film Fest of San Francisco
2023 Guernsey Film Festival
2024 Stockholm Film Festival
2023 Kosice International Film Festival
2024 Kalaburagi Film Festival
2024 Farm to Film Festival
Honorable Mention: 2024 Dubai Film Festival
Perhaps only in a hometown, Shasta County viewing of the ACID Canal documentary could the name “ACID Canal” not conjure up visions of a bubbling cauldron of skin-dissolving chemicals, because locals know that ACID is an acronym for Anderson, Cottonwood Irrigation District. There’s no agreement on what it’s called. Some people call it the “ACID” Canal, while others – like this reporter – refer to the canal by its spelled-out letters: A.C.I.D. , much as someone might spell out the FBI or the CIA.
By any name, the ACID story was a complex one, but Faires and company utilized a masterful combination of interviews, graphics, photography and video to explain complicated matters in a riveting way that made the multi-faceted subject easier for viewers to get their heads around and understand.
The documentary had a David and Goliath feel to it, as the film illustrated how residents who initially felt disenfranchised and ignored successfully pushed back against the powerful board. Rural citizens joined forces and fought for information, justice, and most of all — eventually — water to once again flow in the ACID Canal for the sake of agricultural businesses, private farms, orchards, parched aquifers, livestock, trees, fish, gardens and basic country living that relied upon water to survive.
There were many bleak scenes that showed parched land, dead trees and cracked earth, juxtaposed with previous images of a once brimming canal flanked by lush green property for as far as the eye could see.
James Rickert was depicted as the hero at the center of the film, followed throughout the documentary as an ordinary man and property owner who was fed up enough to finally run for a seat on the ACID Board.
The scene that elicited the strongest audience reaction of the evening was when former ACID board member Brenda Haynes’ name placard is seen being removed from the dais and replaced by Rickert’s after he soundly defeated Haynes in the election. That one clip elicited whoops, cheers and applause from the audience.
Rickert’s civilized, assertive and informed stance and philosophy about the importance of being a devoted, transparent public servant was reminiscent of his mother Mary Rickert’s leadership style as a District 3 Shasta County Supervisor.
Someone in the audience whispered, “He’s his mother’s son.”
As Faires announced before the film’s start, sadly, James Rickert was unable to attend the Saturday viewing because Rickert and his wife had remained home to care for their young daughter who’s suffered some recent severe health issues.
At the film’s conclusion, the film received thunderous applause, followed by a short Q&A session. Then, as if Faires hadn’t already achieved enough on behalf of Shasta County to work so hard to create a film to tell the world the ACID Canal story, Faires was joined by two men — Tyler Lockamy and T.L. Green — who had an announcement they wished to make to the community.
From left, Tyler Faires is the Sundial Film Festival’s Festival Director, followed by Directing Partners Tyler Lockamy and T.L. Green, ACID Canal’s Producer/Director. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
Faires pledged his commitment to join other North State filmmakers to help resurrect the Sundial Film Festival in Redding.
According to a statement on the Sundial Film Festival Facebook page, the Sundial Film Festival will be held on March 22, 2025, at the historic Cascade Theatre in downtown Redding.
“Managed by local filmmakers, the festival aims to be a filmmaker-focused event featuring a full range of films during matinee and evening showings,” said a statement on the Sundial Film Festival’s social media page.
“Whether you’re fresh out of film school with your first short or a longtime industry professional, we invite you to submit your work and join us in sunny Redding for a fun weekend of cinema with our northern California community of artists.”
As people spilled from the Cascade Theatre, there were tables of Sundial Film Festival merchandise for sale; stickers, T-shirts and caps.
Outside, no signs of the previous, crazy storm. Just a clear, star-studded sky, illuminated by a glowing, almost-full moon, shining brightly upon downtown Redding, and just a few blocks away, a full, flowing ACID Canal, carrying with it past stories, and stories yet to come.
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