From the Between Two Rivers Website...

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Between Two Rivers is a feature documentary about Cairo, Illinois, a historic rivertown with a dark and turbulent past; isolated at the confluence of the Ohio & Mississippi rivers, where the North meets the South in the heartland of America.

“Cairo should have been the biggest city in the United States, but look at it!”

Cairo is a town scarred by historic conflicts and bitter divisions. Today, it struggles to survive in the face of severe economic and environmental pressures. Between Two Rivers presents a dramatic and moving picture of this unique place and its people, and looks at how the two great rivers have shaped its destiny for over 170 years. The film sets Cairo’s tumultuous past against the backdrop of the latest crisis to afflict the community: the record breaking floods of spring 2011, when the rising Ohio & Mississippi rivers threatened to engulf the town. As the rivers crested, the town was evacuated and a political battle erupted over a plan to rescue the town by detonating levees protecting thousands of acres of rich farmland.

“We’re a Southern town, there’s no doubt about it.”

Between Two Rivers explores Cairo's reputation as a culturally southern town in a northern state, revealing a community suffering from a legacy of endemic racism. A history of segregation, vigilante justice and lynching still casts a heavy shadow, leaving the town isolated and its population feeling misunderstood and forgotten.

Drawing upon the recollections of local people, the documentary introduces a range of individuals who offer their own fascinating stories and sentiments about Cairo, creating an intimate and compelling picture of the town. Researched and filmed over a four-year period by artists Jacob Cartwright & Nick Jordan, Between Two Rivers combines vivid cinematography with historic film clips, including remarkable archive footage from Cairo: City in Turmoil, made in 1969 by Southern Illinois University. Unseen for over 40 years, City in Turmoil captures the town at the height of racial tensions, when Cairo witnessed the last pitched battles of the American civil-rights movement; a violent time of economic boycotts, arson and shootings, when the town gained infamy at a defining moment in the nation’s history.

“You find things here which you just don’t find anywhere else.”

Between Two Rivers looks closely at Cairo's relationship to the unique natural environment that encircles the town. The very tip of southern Illinois is a biological midpoint of the USA; a region of natural diversity where numerous species and terrains meet at the limits of their northern and southern range. Once renowned for its wealth and fine architecture, Cairo now has countless derelict homes, abandoned businesses and empty lots, which, as the population declines, nature is steadily encroaching upon and reclaiming.

“There’s no place like Cairo.”

With insightful contributions from a former US congressman, the town's mayor, musicians, academics, preachers, shop-keepers and townspeople, the film sensitively explores what can happen to a vulnerable community facing seemingly insurmountable difficulties. At a time when national governments are reeling from the effects of a global financial crisis, Between Two Rivers explores the undercurrent of the American Dream, as experienced by one proud but embattled town. Candid in its representation of Cairo's severe economic and social failings, the film also highlights the dignity, faith and optimism of its people.

"This is Cairo, City of Hope."