Williamson twins' film captures resistance to Lick Creek wastewater facility
Eyan and Ivon Wuchina never lost touch with their endless fountain of childhood creativity.
The 32-year-old twin brothers are award-winning filmmakers who've directed everything from comedy sketches to serious documentaries to a loving tribute honoring the 1987 comedy film "Ernest Goes to Camp."
Many of their earliest creative memories came on Lick Creek, which winds through Hickman County near their childhood home in Williamson County. Long before they knew how to work a camera or storyboard a feature film, they spent their afternoons playing knees-deep kickball (that is, kickball in knee-deep water), fishing for crayfish and hiking through the tall trees surrounding the waterway.
The twins have produced a nine-minute documentary about the Save Lick Creek movement, that debuted at the Tennessee International Independent Film Festival in early November. The Friends of Lick Creek group is seeking to stop the creation of a Water Authority of Dickson County water reclamation facility in east Hickman County that would discharge into Lick Creek.
The WADC has stated it will treat the released water to meet Environmental Protection Agency and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation standards, but advocates for the creek like the Wuchina twins are skeptical. Before additional development on the waterway moves forward, they want assurances that water quality will be maintained.
TDEC has not scheduled a public hearing on the application, and WADC doesn’t anticipate that will happen before the first of the year, according to WADC spokesperson Mark Drury.
More:Hey Vern! Hear about the twin brothers' Ernest Day documentary?
As the twins return to the creek on a crisp October day, the memories come flooding back so quickly they finish each other's sentences.
Ivon: "We grew up on a farm around here. We didn't have cable when we were young. We'd just be outside."
Eyan: "We'd just go play in the creek all day long. Go on creek walks ... "
Ivon: "... walking in the creek with our dogs. Doing make-believe and all this fun stuff."
The twins survey the creek, home to many fond childhood memories. It's an idyllic autumn day, just after most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the only background noise is the occasional rural resident driving the long way round to their home.
It might not be quiet for long, they fear.
Ivon starts: "You go back to those memories and you feel like, if things like this move forward ..."
Eyan: "... that experience for other people ... "
Ivon: "... it's going to diminish."
In addition to the Wuchina brothers' film, the friends group also recently released a 30-second commercial that aired on ESPN's "College GameDay" and during the Tennessee-Georgia football game.
The Wuchinas' film can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg3Al0ohvdg.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Williamson County filmmakers Wuchina twins create Lick Creek project
