The Snake and the Whale Closes Orca Action Month — Free Southern Resident Orca Documentary Screening June 26
- FHFF
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Free Screening at San Juan Island Library & Lopez Center — Friday, June 26 at 7 PM
Each month from January through September, Friday Harbor Film Festival's Best of the Fest series brings award-winning documentaries back to the screen — free of charge — on San Juan and Lopez Islands. For June, FHFF chose a film that speaks directly to these islands and the waters that surround them.
On Friday, June 26 at 7 PM, The Snake and the Whale screens simultaneously at the San Juan Island Library in Friday Harbor and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts on Lopez Island. The screening also serves as the closing event of the Orca Action Month Film Series, a four-part community screening series presented by the Stewardship Network of the San Juans and co-sponsored by FHFF and local partners.
About the Film: A Southern Resident Orca Documentary
Directed by six-time Emmy Award winner John Carlos Frey, The Snake and the Whale traces the history of four federal dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington State and their cascading impact on Idaho's salmon runs — and on the 74 Southern Resident Orcas whose survival depends on that food supply.
The film weaves together investigative journalism, expert testimony, Indigenous voices, and the story of Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut — known as Tokitae — a Southern Resident orca captured at age four and held in captivity for 53 years, to ask a question communities across the Pacific Northwest are wrestling with: what will it take to restore the salmon runs these whales depend on to survive?
The film has earned eight festival awards including the Grand Jury Award at the Greenpoint Film Festival (top film among 123 entries), the Grand Prize at EKOFilm — Europe's oldest environmental film festival — and the EcoFilm Award at the Boston Film Festival. It was nominated for Best "Things to Consider" Feature Film at the 2025 Friday Harbor Film Festival.
As Frey states in the film's closing narration:
"After 50 years and billions of dollars of efforts, Snake River salmon and the Southern Resident Orca are on the brink of extinction because of the Snake River dams. Maybe it's time to listen to the whales instead of politicians and special interests."
A Conversation with Executive Producer Scott Levy
Following the film, audiences at both venues will watch a recorded conversation between Executive Producer Scott Levy and FHFF Producer and Host Norris Palmer, featuring updates on the film and dam removal efforts.
Levy is a Sun Valley, Idaho-based environmental advocate who has worked on Snake River salmon issues for nearly 30 years. He founded BlueFish.org in 1999 as an information advocacy platform focused on Idaho's wild salmon and steelhead, and has served as a pro se amicus curiae — filing independently in federal court — in the long-running litigation over the Lower Snake River dams. The Snake and the Whale is the cinematic result of that three-decade campaign.
In the recorded interview, Levy spoke directly to where that legal effort stands today:
"If everybody knew the truth to the story, like your audience now knows, the politics would be solved. But there's a huge effort to make sure everybody is misinformed."
Part of the Orca Action Month Film Series
The June 26 screening closes out a month of free documentary screenings focused on the Southern Resident Orcas and the ecosystems that support them, presented across San Juan Island in partnership with local conservation organizations.
Admission is free. No ticket or RSVP required.
Thank you to our sponsors!
The June 26 screening of The Snake and the Whale is sponsored by Island Thyme, with venue support from the San Juan Island Library and the Lopez Island Library.
The 2026 Best of the Fest series is presented with support from CascadePBS (Presenting Media Sponsor) and The Journal of the San Juan Islands (In-Kind Media Sponsor).
The Orca Action Month Film Series is presented by the Stewardship Network of the San Juans and co-sponsored by the Friday Harbor Film Festival, San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, The Whale Museum, Center for Whale Research, F.O.L.K.S. (Friends of Lime Kiln Society), and Friends of the San Juans.
