In my first post from Toronto, I'm delighted to announce that two special guests will join producer Joachim Schroeder and me at the North American Premiere of Upstream Battle at TIFF on Monday.

Ron Reed (pictured  below right) and his brother Mike Polmateer (above) are members of the Karuk Tribe of California and work for the tribal Department of Natural Resources. Their participation in Upstream Battle has been essential. I first met them in Glasgow when they argued with Scottish Power's shareholders (pictured), and visited them on the Klamath River many times. I witnessed Ron winning commercial fishermen over, and finally followed the brothers through the doors of Warren Buffett's annual "Woodstock for Capitalists" in Omaha.

In a Karuk press release on the film, Reed says: "It's important for people to better understand our cultures and the struggles we continue to face as Indigenous People. That's how we convince people that the survival of our culture is the benefit of all people."

Talking about Woodstock - that's where we're going to have our U.S. Premiere, close on the heels of TIFF, at the "fiercly independent" film festival. Following this, the film (and hopefully even the filmmaker!) will travel to the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Here at TIFF, the first press and industry screening of Upstream Battle is today (Sept 4) at 4:30pm in the VARSITY 7 theatre.