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A story straight out of "Chinatown" gets attention in today's "Trailer of the Day" for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
Filmmaker Marina Zenovich's documentary "Water & Power: A California Heist" follows how private interests control and benefit from California's water resources. Zenovich gets deep into the policy and deal-making, particularly with a 1994 agreement that put the output from one of California's larger aquifers in the hands of private farms that specialize in water-sucking crops like almonds and pistachios — while nearby towns don't have access to drinkable water.
Fans of Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" may remember that water, as a commodity and source of power, was key to the investigation of Jack Nicholson's private eye character J.J. Gittes. So it's perhaps appropriate that Zenovich — whose father, George, was a California legislator who represented the Fresno area — was last at Sundance in 2008 with her documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."
"Water & Power: A California Heist" — produced for the National Geographic channel — will premiere in the festival's U.S. Documentary competition, and is one of the titles in the festival's "The New Climate" initiative. It will screen at the following times and venues:
• Monday, Jan. 23, 9:15 p.m., Temple Theatre, Park City.
• Tuesday, Jan. 24, 5:30 p.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City.
• Thursday, Jan. 26, 9:45 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinema 3, Salt Lake City.
• Friday, Jan. 27, 6 p.m., Redstone Cinema 7, Park City.
• Saturday, Jan. 28, 2:30 p.m., Egyptian Theatre, Park City.
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival runs Jan. 19-29 in Park City and at venues in Salt Lake City and the Sundance resort in Provo Canyon.