Florida Premiere / USA / 2025 / English / 90 min / Crime, Investigative Journalism
Director: John Carlos Frey; Executive Producer: Scott Levy. Cast: Ken Balcomb, Ed Chaney. Nakia Williamson-Cloud, Howard Garrett, Dr. Deborah Giles Rosie Cayou James, Doug Johnson, Kevin Lewis, Raynell Morris, Chris Pinney, Jim Waddell
Contact: redfishbluefishfilm@gmail.com
When an apex predator is in decline, so too is its ecosystem. Investigative journalism exposes ongoing corruption in the US Congress, falsely claiming that four federally owned dams are crucial to the Northwest power grid, while hiding the fact that an ecosystem collapse is in progress. At stake are salmon runs–once among the greatest runs in the world–and the salmon-eating Orcas facing imminent extinction.
Director Biography – John Carlos Frey
John Carlos Frey (born November 3, 1969) is a six-time Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist and author. Frey, originally from Tijuana Mexico, is based in Los Angeles, California.
His investigative work has been featured on programs and networks such as HBO, Netflix, Hulu, NewsHour, 60 Minutes, PBS, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, CNN, Nightline, Democracy Now! The Weather Channel, Dan Rather Reports, Fusion TV, Current TV, Univision, and Telemundo. John Carlos Frey has also written articles for the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Salon, NBC.com, Need to Know online, the Washington Monthly, and El Diario (in Spanish).
Frey’s independently produced documentaries include Invisible Mexicans of Deer Canyon, The Invisible Chapel, The 800 Mile Wall, One Border One Body, and Life and Death on the Border.
Frey was the main correspondent for the February 15, 2013, episode of PBS’s “Need To Know” titled “Outlawed in Arizona”, highlighting a years-long dispute over a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson, Arizona.
Director Statement
Over the course of my career, I have always chosen stories that help to give a voice to the voiceless and hold those in positions of power to account. The Snake and the Whale was an opportunity to give a voice to threatened and endangered fish and a group of Orca that are on the endangered species list. By selecting experts to tell the majority of the story, it becomes evident that an ecological disaster has been overlooked, whitewashed and supported by a handful of corrupt and powerful government officials. I was determined to let nature speak and expose politicians and bureaucracy responsible for an ongoing ecological crisis.