The creators of a new film that will premiere this spring hope it will help the state’s residents and leaders better understand what the state needs to thrive in the future.

Set to premiere on April 6, “The Five States of Colorado” is a production of Denver-based HaveyPro Cinema and Colorado Humanities, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting humanities education through community-based programs.

It’s a follow-up to Jim Havey’s 1989 film that was the original “Five States,” which was Havey Productions’ first historical documentary production. The new version will be his last, as Havey plans to retire.

The film focuses on Colorado’s history, how it came to be and where it’s going.

“We could probably make a film just about what happened between 1990 and today,” said Nathan Church, partner in HaveyPro Cinema who also serves as its art director and editor. “But we’re trying to look at the whole history of Colorado. There’s a lot to cram in there. We can’t cover everything, but we hope to get a good overview.”

The U.S. Congress set Colorado’s boundaries in 1861, from four different territories.

“These straight lines represent no river, no mountain range, no tribe or language group - yet within the state are many divides both geographic and human,” Colorado Humanities said in a news release.

The organization points out that the “five states” model reveals Colorado’s regions and each has its own history, geography and economy. According to Colorado Humanities, “each region engenders a certain loyalty from its citizens and has some common ideas how things should be done.”

“The five-state model is based on the idea that Colorado’s borders are a square. It was drawn arbitrarily,” Church added. “It was closed within one square that way to protect the gold-bearing regions for the Union, as this was right around the Civil War.”

A partial look at the regions entails: Southern Colorado includes Pueblo and the San Luis Valley; Western Colorado covers mountain ranges, including North, Middle and South Park; the Eastern Plains include the Front Range north of the Arkansas River; the Front Range includes a dense population from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs; and Metropolitan Denver has its own region because of its influence in politics and the economy.

“Some of the issues we face today are things we’ve been dealing with in Colorado in time immemorial, all the way back to the ancestral Puebloans,” Church said. “There was a major drought in the 1200s, and evidence shows the Puebloans moved out likely because of that. The entire Southwest is now in a mega-drought that has been going on for the better part of a decade.”

The state’s recent rapid growth in population is another topic of concern.

“That connects with climate change, which is changing the water picture throughout the state,” Church said. “These topics touch all the regions.”

Colorado Humanities recruited 26 scholars and community leaders to ensure that the new version of “Five States” ensures accuracy, inclusiveness and relevance in the film.

“One thing that gives us comfort is (they’re) advising us about topics to cover,” Church said. “They’ll review the script and the film. We’re counting on those scholars to guide the development of this film. “We really hope it will both educate people about the history of the state and inform them about current issues with that historical perspective.”