I Am the River, the River Is Me
2024 Movies That Matter
2024 Doc Edge
A canoe trip down the Whanganui River in New Zealand, led by a Māori elder, joined by a Māori river guardian Ned Tapa, his friends and family, an international film crew, becomes a call to action to draw closer to nature and fight climate change through a fundamental value shift. The river is the main character of this film. Both mirror and inspiration, the river unites all the travelers organically, where everyone has a voice – including the film crew – to share stories of humor and light, and a space to heal from the darkness of the past, of enduring historical injustice. The film is an invitation to experience these values: of thinking about our relationship to the world around us – to above all the natural world – as one of intergenerational care and guardianship rather than just ownership/use/extraction.