Mark your calendars for the upcoming screenings of Bloodknots feature film, Our Two Hands. Years in the making, this new film will be screened in six Northwest cities over the next few weeks. Check locations and dates here. With support from Trout Unlimited, Wild Steelhead Coalition, Native Fish Society and others, it’ll be a wonderful opportunity to pow-wow with like-minded fishy brethren, and you’ll get a compelling visual treat. Go.

If you’re not able to make the screenings, the full film is available to rent or buy via Vimeo’s On Demand service.

From Bloodknots: “Society has an intimately complex and perilous relationship with salmon and steelhead. The current management paradigm has failed, and the status quo solutions for restoring impoverished wild populations have proven ineffective.

Our Two Hands is an examination of the underlying cause of this decline, as well as the innovative voices in the angling community and general public fighting for a wild fish future in the Pacific Northwest.

Human influence whether direct or indirect affects every living species on earth. There are few species that have such a rich intertwined history like man and fish. Anadromous fish returns have fueled spiritual rituals, provided sustenance, supported our communities, and fed our desires to connect with a truly amazing creature. Anthropocentric motives aside, salmon and steelhead continue their quest for ecological fitness and population sustainability. The current state of Salmon and Steelhead is in turmoil; a sign of the times. Natural resources pushed to the brink with local communities struggling to find common ground on the future of the river ecosystems.  Dams, tainted gene pools, hatcheries, over-harvest, bi-catch, and habitat destruction, are interfering with the already arduous migration to and from the ocean that these fish must endure to remain an indispensable part of the natural cycle and social fabric.

Human concern for salmon and steelhead populations, artificial or wild spans the entire ideological spectrum. How have our communities differing ethics and values surrounding these fish threatened their well being, and what can be done to solve these complex issues of, economics, management, conservation, recreation and politics?  What draws both people and fish to go to such lengths to accomplish their goals? As wild steelhead and salmon populations dwindle the angling community grows by the day. How do we balance our fishing ethics in regards to policy and management with the ever changing status of wild steelhead and salmon? Finding middle ground for such a passionate following for both anglers and the general public may seem daunting, but it is our collective responsibility to find a common theme as river stewards that prolongs the future of wild fish.”