PRESS RELEASE: DROWNED LAND “Best DOCUMENTARY” at 2025 CIRCLE CINEMA FILM FESTIVAL (July 12 + 15, 2025), Tulsa Premiere
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOCAL CHOCTAW FILMMAKER LAUNCHES TULSA PREMIERE WITH BEST DOCUMENTARY JURY AWARD AT CIRCLE CINEMA FILM FESTIVAL
Spotlighting Oklahoma’s Kiamichi River & Local Water Stories
Tulsa, OK—Drowned Land, the debut feature documentary from Colleen Thurston—the first directed by a female tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma—will make its Tulsa premiere on Saturday, July 12, 2025, as part of the sixth annual Circle Cinema Film Festival. The festival has named the film its 2025 Best Documentary Film. Presented by Circle Cinema Film Festival in co-presentation with Tulsa Artist Fellowship and Indian Territory Film Festival, the event will include a panel discussion with local water advocates exploring stories across eastern Oklahoma’s rivers followed by the screening, a post-film reception, and a filmmaker Q&A. The film will be reprised on Tuesday, July 15 as part of the festival’s featured award-winning film screenings.
Directed by Tulsa-based filmmaker Colleen Thurston, Drowned Land tells the powerful story of a group of water protectors fighting to preserve the Kiamichi River—the lifeblood of their southeastern Oklahoma community—from ongoing cycles of environmental exploitation. The film explores both historical and present-day struggles, including efforts to stop the construction of a hydroelectric plant and the diversion of the river’s water outside the watershed. Featured participants include Dr. Kenneth Roberts, a native of southeastern Oklahoma and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Tulsa; Lauren Haygood, a University of Tulsa graduate and current Ph.D. candidate in Geosciences at Oklahoma State University, whose research focuses on heavy metal contamination in aquatic systems and its impact on mussel populations; and Choctaw water protectors Sandra Stroud and Charlotte Robbins of southeastern Oklahoma, who are advocating for Rights of Nature recognition for the Kiamichi River.
Thurston explains, “This is a source of life-giving water, and the risk that diversion and commodification bring not only threatens the river’s survival but that of its surrounding communities. My hope is that by connecting our peoples’ history of displacement due to resource extraction with the present-day struggle of water protectors, Drowned Land can offer a glimmer of hope that there are real solutions.”
What began as a broader look at Oklahoma’s man-made lakes became a personal reckoning for Thurston, whose grandfather helped design the dams that both displaced communities and, in other cases—such as Tulsa—protected them from catastrophic flooding. Through the film, she confronts the complex legacy of that work and its lasting impact, while spotlighting the leadership working to protect the Kiamichi River in the heart of the Choctaw Nation today.
Programmed to accompany the film’s premiere, Voices for the Water: Art, Journalism, and the Protection of Eastern Oklahoma’s Waterways brings together artists and journalists who use storytelling to elevate water issues across the region. From documentary photography and poetry to investigative reporting, panelists will reflect on the ecological, cultural, and spiritual importance of Green Country’s rivers, springs, and aquifers. The panel will feature Molly Bullock (founder/editor/journalist, Watershed), Melissa Lukenbaugh (photojournalist, documentarian), and Alex DeRoin (co-editor, Water Zine; Two Spirit artist and community builder), and will be moderated by Jessica McEver (co-founder, Tulsa Film Collective). The full program will begin at 3:00 PM with the panel, followed by the 4:30 PM screening of Drowned Land and a post-film Q&A. A reception featuring food by Burning Cedar Sovereign Wellness and live music by Kalyn Fay will follow at 6:30 PM. The film will return for an encore screening on Tuesday, July 15 as part of the festival’s award-winning film series, paired with Tiger by Loren Waters, winner of Best Short Documentary.
Best Documentary Film at the 2025 Circle Cinema Film Festival marks the third award for Drowned Land since its world premiere in March. In June, the film won Best Oklahoma Documentary at deadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City, and earlier this spring, director Colleen Thurston was named Best Emerging Filmmaker at Thin Line Festival in Texas. Drowned Land premiered to a sold-out audience at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital and was selected to launch Color Congress’ inaugural Elev8Docs Multi-City Campaign, with simultaneous community screenings in Los Angeles and Santa Fe. The film’s festival run has also included selections at major festivals, including the prestigious Seattle International Film Festival. Drowned Land will next screen at the Lumbee Film Festival in North Carolina on July 5, with additional Southeastern Oklahoma screenings planned later in the month. The film will complete its festival circuit tour in Spring 2026 before traveling to Indigenous communities across the nation and globe.
Critics have praised the film as:
“A true gem of a film.” — Raquel Stecher, Quelle Movies
“Colleen Thurston masterfully connects the dots between past injustices and present-day exploitation, reminding us that history doesn’t just repeat itself; it floods back with a vengeance...or worse, disappears.” — Alan Ng, Film Threat
Thurston spent seven years working on the film, which features an all-Oklahoma production team, including producer Michelle Svenson (Goff, Shimásání, Fukry), director of photography Charles Elmore (Reservation Dogs, Minari, Fancy Dance), and an original score composed by Choctaw musician Samantha Crain.
SCREENING DETAILS:
Circle Cinema Film Festival | Tickets: https://www.circlecinema.org/ccff
Circle Cinema, 10 S. Lewis Ave. Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104
Saturday, July 12
3:00 PM | Voices for the Water: Art, Journalism, and the Protection of Eastern Oklahoma’s Waterways (Panel)
4:30 PM | Drowned Land *Tulsa Premiere (Film Screening and Q&A)
6:30 PM | Drowned Land Reception featuring food by Burning Cedar Sovereign Wellness and live musical performance by Kalyn Fay (Reception)
Tuesday, July 15
4:30 PM | Drowned Land (Best Documentary) preceded by Tiger (Best Short Documentary) (Encore Screenings)
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Colleen Thurston (Director; she/her) is a documentary storyteller, producer, and film curator from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation. Her nonfiction work has aired on the Smithsonian Channel, Vox, and PBS, and has been commissioned by museums, tribal nations, and nonprofit organizations. Her films have screened at international festivals and received support from Firelight Media, the Sundance Institute, Patagonia, the Redford Center, and Creative Capital. She is the founder of the Indigenous Moving Image Archive project and has curated programs for the National Gallery of Art, the Momentary, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and numerous film festivals. Colleen serves as project producer for the Indigenous series Native Lens and is a senior programmer for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. She is a 2024–2025 International Documentary Association Fellow and a 2025–2027 Tulsa Artist Fellow. Drowned Land is her first feature-length documentary.
Film Website: https://drownedland.com
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