Cows in the river, money in the bank

Sheep dogs, court cases, and violent assaults. Yep. Sounds like life down on the farm.
When James Muir was casting about for a documentary topic for his masters degree in natural history filmmaking, he knew the farming hinterland of New Zealand would provide all the drama and human conflict he would ever need.
The next vital ingredient was an environmental conflict, which he discovered on the banks of Wairarapa's Pahaoa River, where James' father, Grant Muir, runs a farm.
How did the story start? With cowshit. With the Clean Streams Accord we expect responsible farmers will fence their stock out of waterways. But Grant Muir's neighbour did exactly the opposite and fenced his stock onto a river. The Pahaoa River was essentially one of his paddocks.
After the neighbour refused to improve his farming ways and complaints to the regional council went unheeded, Grant decided, as a good Kiwi bloke does, to get stuck in and do something himself. Enter his sheep dogs - aka the river dogs - which soon had the cows, and their shit, out of the river.
And then things started to get really interesting. It turned out there were district councillors with serious conflicts of interest, who were running their own cows in the same rivers they were charged with protecting. And also farmers who thought a bit of biffo would conclusively settle matters regarding where their cows could roam.
That's the setting for River Dog and you can find out for yourself how it all panned out at a special one-off screening hosted by Te Puke Forest & Bird at Rialto Cinema, at 6pm on Sunday.
Both Grant and James will be there to answer questions afterwards, and the evening will last about 80 minutes. Tickets cost $12 and can be purchased directly through Rialto Cinema.
As the evening is expected to sell out, I recommend you book your tickets early. For the director, James Muir, this will be a homecoming, as he grew up in the Te Puke region.
River Dog is only his second documentary film and has already been accepted into the London International Documentary Film Festival. At a recent Wellington conference it received a standing ovation from the audience.
Te Puke Forest & Bird will also host a repeat screening at their September 19 branch meeting at Masonic Lodge, Te Puke. Please contact Neale Blaymires for more details: neale@orcon.net.nz or 573 4157.