I Am the River, the River Is Me

On Thursday, October 3, as part of the opening program of the second edition of Confluence of European Water Bodies, Ocean Space is hosting a screening of the film “I Am The River, The River Is Me.”

The film stars the Whanganui River in New Zealand, the world’s first ecosystem with legal personhood. Working with humility, respect, and friendship, the film is the result of a four-year-long collaboration with the Māori community in Whanganui. Through a breathtaking journey, Māori river guardian Ned Tapa takes a group of friends, family, and activists on a 5-day canoe trip down this sacred river.

The program of the Venetian edition of the Confluence of European Water Bodies emerges from the many participating water bodies. It was co-developed with NICHE (Ca' Foscari University) and Italian Buddhist Union (UBI), in fundamental dialogue with local activist associations Comitato per le Grave di Ciano (River Piave) and Poveglia per Tutti (Venice Lagoon).

Confluence of European Water Bodies is founded by the Embassy of the North Sea, ILP Mar Menor and TBA21–Academy and supported by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice: NICHE (THE NEW INSTITUTE Center for Environmental Humanities), GARN (Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature), the Italian Buddhist Union, Creative Industries Fund NL, Venice Climate Change Pavilion and ZIN Doc.

Corinne van Egeraat & Petr Lom are an internationally recognized filmmaking couple whose award-winning work has premiered at Berlin, Venice, IDFA and Sundance and has screened at over 450 festivals around the world and broadcast in more than 30 countries. They are driven by the need for creative storytelling in the service of movies that matter. Specializing in urgent stories that reflect their values of dedication to justice, they work from a deep place of humility and generosity seeing storytelling as form of love and friendship, an act of giving and sharing. Since the last seven years, they have also expanded their focus to work on stories of climate justice: I Am The River, The River Is Me (2024) a film about New Zealand’s Whanganui River, the first river in the world recognized as a legal person. The other, The Coriolis Effect (2024) a creative documentary about our world spinning out of control, set in the islands of Cape Verde, the place where hurricanes are born.