Co-producers and directors Liz McEnaney and Jasper Goldman documented the Hudson Valley in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. At that time, the Hudson Valley experienced a renaissance of sorts, but not everyone benefited from it. Hudson Rising — a documentary film commissioned by OurHudson — tells the stories of citizens who were addressing pressing issues about the region’s open space and farmlands, economic vitality, urban infrastructure, and quality of life.

Hudson Rising profiles entrepreneurs and recent immigrants starting new businesses on abandoned Main Streets, scientists and artists bringing new life to empty factory buildings and kids building community gardens in decaying neighborhoods. The documentary also tells the stories of farmers reinventing farming and activists working to protect the landscape and make it accessible, including the fight to save the world-famous Shawangunks Ridge, the effort to convert an abandoned railway bridge into an aerial park, and the initiatives to restore sturgeon, shad and even a steamship to the Hudson River.

The documentary was screened at venues throughout the Valley in the Spring and Summer of 2013 as part of OurHudson’s campaign to engage the Valley’s citizens in a conversation about what it will take to make the Hudson Valley great again.