Press


‘Secrets Of Great Salt Lake’ Brings Urgent Environmental Story To The Giant Screen
By Chris Dorsey
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is drying up, foretelling a dire future for residents of Salt Lake City and the surrounding region if something isn’t done soon to reverse the lake’s decline. An unprecedented coalition of state leaders, agencies, conservation organizations, foundations and private philanthropists have assembled to head off what some are warning could be an environmental disaster on a scale America hasn’t seen since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
A key part of that effort is to make people across Utah and the globe aware of Great Salt Lake’s importance and the urgent need to save it. After nearly two years in production, Secrets of Great Salt Lake is set for release in giant screen theaters worldwide, including a destination theater and interpretive center currently under construction at Utah’s Antelope Island State Park located near Salt Lake City.

Photo: SK Films

April 23, 2025
Mission Partners, SK Films prep giant-screen release for “Secrets of Great Salt Lake”
By Barry Walsh
Denver-headquartered Mission Partners Entertainment Group (Wings Over Water) is prepping the release of its immersive, 3D giant-screen feature doc Secrets of Great Salt Lake, with Toronto-based SK Films handling distribution.
The film, which is supported by Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation and Ducks Unlimited, is helmed by Tyler Mifflin, cinematographer and managing director for SK Films, and features Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) as narrator.
The doc is centered on the efforts to save Utah’s Great Salt Lake, a body of water that supports a US$1 billion economy that includes commercial fishing, mining, outdoor recreation and tourism. Once spanning 1,700 square miles, the lake has dropped by nearly 50%, placing it on the edge of ecological collapse. Its decline also mirrors a broader crisis across the American West, where more than half of the nine major saline lakes have shrunk by 50% to 95%.
An impact campaign for the film will include an expansive educational initiative, complete with short-form content and curriculum materials that will be distributed to more than 10,000 schools across the U.S.


Mission Partners Entertainment Group Announces Ian Shive as Director for Highly Anticipated Wetlands: Saving a Vanishing Wonderland (working title) Giant Screen Documentary
Mission Partners Entertainment Group (MPEG) is proud to announce that acclaimed filmmaker and Ansel Adams Award-winning photographer, Ian Shive, will direct the highly anticipated giant screen documentary Wetlands: Saving a Vanishing Wonderland. This captivating film will transport audiences to the world’s most pristine wetlands, highlighting their stunning biodiversity and the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect these critical ecosystems.
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Executive Moves
Documentary film veteran Derek Threinen has joined Mission Partners Entertainment as Executive Vice President, Film Distribution and Theater Development.
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MPEG Names Threinen EVP Distribution and Theatre Development
January 28, 2025 The Mission Partners Entertainment Group has announced that Derek Threinen, a 25-year documentary film veteran, has joined the company as executive vice president, film distribution and theatre development. In this role, Threinen will lead the company’s film distribution strategies and manage the expansion of its theatre network. Mission Partners is currently in the process of building its first destination theatre, set to open later this year, with plans for future expansion.
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Mission Partners Entertainment Group Adds Derek Threinen as EVP, Film Distribution and Theater Development
January 28, 2025 Mission Partners Entertainment Group (MPEG) is pleased to announce that Derek Threinen, a 25-year documentary film veteran, has joined the company as Executive Vice President, Film Distribution and Theater Development. In this role, Threinen will lead the company’s film distribution strategies and manage the expansion of its theater network. Mission Partners is currently in the process of building its first destination theater, set to open later this year, with plans for future expansion.
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Personnel Moves: exec hires at Objective Ent., BBC Studios, Mission Partners
Objective Entertainment appoints head of development Objective Media Group’s newly formed unscripted label Objective Entertainment has brought on John Lomax as head of development. Assuming his new role in February…
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Antonietta Monteleone Joins Mission Partners Entertainment Group to lead distribution team
Mission Partners Entertainment Group has announced that 25-year film industry veteran, Antonietta Monteleone has joined the company to serve as Chief Executive Officer. Monteleone will lead the company’s distribution efforts while expanding its footprint as a producer and innovator in the giant screen documentary industry and beyond.
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Thursday December 19, 2024 Email Newsletter
Cynopsis 12/19/24: Paramount+ renews “Mayor of Kingstown” for season four; “Girls5Eva” canceled, again; WBD sets new leadership team
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Start a conversation…and turn up the volume.
“Wings Over Water” Denver Premiere
Wings Over Water takes flight at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
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“Wings Over Water” Pittsburgh Premiere
Huey Lewis visits Pittsburgh to promote bird conservation film
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“Secrets of the Great Salt Lake” IMAX Announcement
The plight to save The Great Salt Lake is coming to IMAX at the Antelope Island Visitor Center.
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Secrets of the Great Salt Lake in the Press

New IMAX Film And Theater Highlight Effort To Save Great Salt Lake
Utah’s iconic Great Salt Lake is drying up which will have catastrophic consequences if something isn’t done soon, so state officials are taking unprecedented steps to head off what some are calling an environmental disaster on the order of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
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As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces an ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’
Climate change and rapid population growth are shrinking the lake, creating a bowl of toxic dust that could poison the air around Salt Lake City.
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Drying Great Salt Lake Could Expose Millions to Toxic Arsenic-Laced Dust
The largest saline lake in North America is on track to collapse within five years, a new report finds
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How duck hunters, wetlands and conservation help the Great Salt Lake
Conservation of Great Salt Lake wetlands dates back to the late 1800s. Now it’s more important than ever
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The Great Salt Lake is shrinking. What can we do to stop it?
A recent report suggests the lake could disappear within five years
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The Great Salt Lake Is Too Big—and Too Important—to Fail
Utah’s leaders and advocates are mobilizing to save the largest saline lake ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere, a haven for people and migrating birds. Time and water are running out.
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The Great Sale Lake From a Bird’s Eye View
I sat in the backseat of a beaten down, white truck that was crawling down a thin, long road that runs between the habitats of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. A cold fog blurred the horizon ahead of me.
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