Near Glen Echo and the C&O Canal towpath is a man who lives on an island.
Joe Hage, known as “Towpath Joe,” is the caretaker of Sycamore Island, a piece of the Potomac River about 150 feet from the Maryland shoreline.
He helps transport canoers and picnickers to the island Hage’s home is certainly unique, but it’s his front view seat to pollution problems in the Potomac that caught the attention of filmmakers Susanne Coates and Emily Wathen. The duo will show their film, “Towpath Joe,” on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21 as part of the third annual Bethesda Film Fest.
“Joe is a particularly good person to tell that story, not only because he lives on the river, but he has always been an environmental advocate,” Coates said. “He really does speak about the river every chance he gets. He’s kind of the person on the front lines.”
Coates said she first interviewed Hage when in a documentary film program at George Washington University. She suggested the idea for a documentary to her film partner Wathen and the duo followed him around from March of last year to the end of last year.
They were able to capture the ebbs and flows of the Potomac over three seasons. It’s a landscape that can turn ugly with stormwater pollution after a sustained rain.
Almost every time there’s some flooding on Sycamore Island, Hage has to clean up new bits of trash that wash up onto the land.
“It’s an ongoing thing for him trying to keep the island clean,” Coates said.
Another issue the film alludes to is sewer and sanitation overflow. Some local sewer systems combine stormwater and sanitary systems, overwhelming the infrastructure and flowing into the river — a major source for drinking water.
Coates hopes the film opens some eyes as to the importance of keeping the river clean.
“The stuff we dump on the land and what we flush down the toilets, whatever it might be ends up in the river and ends up back in the water we drink,” Coates said. “Joe sees it all because he’s on the river.”
The film is one of five selected for the Bethesda Film Fest (a BethesdaNow.com advertiser). It will debut at the event, set for Imagination Stage, and at the Environmental Film Festival in D.C., also this month.
Screenings on both nights will start at 7 p.m. and include discussions with the filmmakers. Tickets are available for $10.
Video via Susanne Coates/Vimeo
