News

Film on rivercane loss opens Sept. 19

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 16, 2026

A new documentary exploring the near-disappearance of rivercane — a native bamboo that was a critical resource for Cherokee culture and a natural protector of riverbanks — will have its world premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Thomas Auditorium at Blue Ridge Community College.

Admission requires advance tickets, available at saveculture.org/shop/raising-cane.

Raising Cane: The Cherokee and Rivercane, directed by David Weintraub and produced by the Center for Cultural Preservation, documents how rivercane once formed dense forests along Southeastern waterways and served as one of the most essential materials in Cherokee life — used for food, housing, blowguns, mats and baskets. Today, an estimated 98 percent of the region’s rivercane is gone.

“William Bartram, the naturalist and explorer, encountered miles of vast, dense forests of cane so massive along streambanks in his travels in the 1770s he described them as ‘an endless wilderness of canes,’” Weintraub said. “But today, rivercane, America’s native bamboo, is disappearing.”

Cherokee basket-maker Mary Welch Thompson, whose work uses white oak, honeysuckle and rivercane, said the loss is an existential threat to a tradition stretching back tens of thousands of years. “Rivercane loves waterfront property and so does man,” she said.

The film also examines ongoing efforts by conservation groups and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to restore rivercane along regional waterways. Weintraub noted that rivercane’s deep root systems help stabilize stream banks and that its absence contributed to greater flood damage during Hurricane Helene.

Following the screening, Cherokee elders and conservationists will take questions from the audience. The Center for Cultural Preservation will also mark its 15th anniversary at the event, with music, food and a performance by the Apple Country String Band.

The film was supported by the Community Foundation of Henderson County, Asset Marketing Brokers, Wild Birds Unlimited Hendersonville, the McGrady Family Fund and individual supporters. For information, call 828-692-8062 or visit saveculture.org.