Virtual Water Docs Film Festival
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Your FREE All ACCESS PASS will admit you to all in-person AND virtual screenings at the 2023 Water Docs Film Festival.
Virtual Access
Nov 20 - Dec 17
#LaterNoMore: Activating Climate Solutions Now!
Presented in collaboration:
The Ecologos Environmental Organization
Regenterating Toronto
School of the Environment
at the University of Toronto
Funded by:
The Government of Canada’s
Community Services Recovery Fund
Also made possible by:
Stantec, Peterborough KM Hunter Foundation,
and the ongoing financial support of our many donors.
You’ll find many films to enjoy and learn from in our virtual Water Docs Film Festival. Click on the ALL ACCESS PASS to register.
Rob Stewart Retrospective
Sharkwater
CANADA | 2006 | 90.5 MIN
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, SHARKWATER takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world’s shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
REVOLUTION
CANADA | 2012 | 82.5 MIN
REVOLUTION is a feature documentary about opening your eyes, changing the world and fighting for something. A true life adventure following director Rob Stewart in the follow up to his smash hit SHARKWATER, REVOLUTION is an epic adventure into the evolution of life on earth and the revolution to save us. Discovering that there’s more in jeopardy than sharks, Stewart uncovers a grave secret threatening our own survival as a species, and embarks on a life-threatening adventure through 4 years and 15 countries into the greatest battle ever waged. Bringing you some of the most incredible wildlife spectacles ever recorded, audiences are brought face to face with sharks and cuddly lemurs, into the microscopic world of the pygmy seahorse, and on the hunt with the deadly flamboyant cuttlefish. From the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to the rainforests in Madagascar, Stewart reveals that all of our actions are interconnected.
Sharkwater: Extinction
CANADA | 2018 | 84.5 MIN
SHARKWATER: EXTINCTION is a thrilling and inspiring action packed journey that follows filmmaker Rob Stewart as he exposes the massive illegal shark fin industry and the political corruption behind it — a conspiracy that is leading to the extinction of sharks. From West Africa, Spain, Panama, Costa Rica, France, and even in our own backyard, Stewart’s third film dives into the often violent underworld of the pirate fishing trade to expose a multi-billion dollar industry. Shark finning is still rampant, shark fin soup is still being consumed on an enormous scale, and endangered sharks are now also being used to make products for human consumption. Stewart’s mission is to save the sharks and oceans before it’s too late. But exposing illegal activities isn’t easy; protecting sharks has earned him some powerful enemies.
A Tree Story: Gullah/Geechee Roots and Resilience
UNITED STATES | 2022 | 18 MIN
Johns Islanders fight to hold onto their ancestral land, culture, and trees amid the threat of land loss due to overdevelopment and climate change-related sea level rise. Their story is reflected in the fight to protect the Angel Oak, a beloved live oak tree that is over 400 years old and located on a former plantation on the island.
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Caiçara
BRAZIL | 2022 | 10.5 MIN
CAIÇARA is a short film about conscious consumption of products (fish) from the maritime ecosystem. This warning can be reflective of many places around the world as it is a global emergency. In this film, it is set in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most famous cities in the world, and with one of the oldest artisanal fishing colonies in Brazil - 'Colônia de Pescadores Z-13'. The character who reflects on the issue is a young “caiçara”, who are the inhabitants of the coast of the southeastern and southern regions of Brazil, and whose traditional culture is based mainly on artisanal, subsistence fishing.
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Following the Flow
AUSTRALIA | 2022 | 82.5 MIN
Explore the waterways of inland Australia through the eyes of the locals that know it best.
FOLLOWING THE FLOW tells the story of the once-mighty Macquarie Wambool River, one small part of Australia's greatest inland water system: the Murray-Darling Basin. A river detached from its natural ability to self-regulate, completely in the hands of humanity. A river that is somehow both the soul of the towns it passes through and an oft-forgotten footnote to their story.
To explore that relationship we meet with people. And if there’s one thing the Macquarie River has in spades, it is people with a passion for it. Historians, First Nations people, ecologists, small business owners, water managers, farmers and fishers all with a story to tell.
FOLLOWING THE FLOW sets out to tell the story of the river, shaped by humans, but instead found the story of humans, shaped by the river. With a cast of outback characters and stunning cinematography the film gives context to broader conversations about climate change, production, ecology and finding a way forward in a less than certain world.
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In the Whale
UNITED STATES | 2023 | 81 MIN
IN THE WHALE is a feature-length film about arguably the greatest fish story ever told, though this one is true. It's the account of a man who survived to tell the tale of being swallowed by a whale, and what happened after being spit out.
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INCIPIENCE
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | 2022 | 12 MIN
INCIPIENCE is a short, experimental art film about the creation of the world, earth and water, the origin of life filmed by one person without the involvement of a film crew, VFX or combined filming.
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Invisible Landscapes | North American Premiere
CZECH REPUBLIC | 2022 | 47.5 MIN
INVISIBLE LANDSCAPES explores how sound tells the climate story of the future. It sounds like a bird’s song, and you can't take your ears off it. But it's not – it’s just the popping bubbles of a melting glacier. A group of musicians equipped with sensitive microphones and headphones set out on an exploration. They head to places in the Czech and Icelandic countryside, either marred by industry or untouched by man, to discover and understand the sound of catastrophe – the sound of ongoing climate change – which, in and of itself, can be far more beautiful, and more imaginative, than what it heralds. While sight allows phenomena and things to be encompassed in a static state and in a certain entirety, hearing allows us to understand how the sounds affect and clash with their surroundings. Sound is the consequence of an event that happened in the past and points towards a future now being decided, one that may potentially be inevitable and destructive for us. It cannot yet be seen in the invisible landscapes, but – if we listen carefully – it is already there.
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Jack’s Solar Garden
UNITED STATES | 2022 | 4 MIN
JACK'S SOLAR GARDEN is a short film about agrivoltaics which is the combination of solar energy collection and agriculture. By utilizing the land while capturing solar energy - this model offers land developers and farmers a win-win scenario. The film features Jack's Solar Garden - the largest commercial research site using agrivoltaics in the US. It describes the agrivoltaics model and the research being done at Jack's to further prove this method.
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Mapping Survival | Canadian Premiere
UNITED STATES | 2021 | 30 MIN
MAPPING SURVIVAL is the story of how a nomad in Chad, while advocating for the rights of her community, has become a leader in the fight against climate change and a voice for Indigenous people across the planet.
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Ocean’s Breath, Last Call | Canadian Premiere
ITALY | 2023 | 10 MIN
In nature, everything is interconnected by a dense, yet fragile network of relationships. By abandoning the mindset of human domination, we become an integral part of nature itself, cultivating relationships like with precious coral.
What is the true essence of Nature? In what way are we interconnected with it? Eddy, the protagonist of this story, explores an uncontaminated corner of the world and understands that everything on this planet is interconnected and that humans are just a link in the chain that connects all things. Only when we free ourselves from our mentality of "dominant man" will we understand that Nature is the result of all relationships.
Through free diving, Eddy approaches the deep and mysterious world of the ocean, perceiving the extraordinary complexity and power of the interconnections between living elements in symbiosis, both aquatic and terrestrial. Like the communities that populate these environments (often in perfect harmony with the ocean itself), they represent an example of life in relation to nature, and can provide valuable lessons on how to protect and conserve this invaluable asset.
Eddy's sensitivity, in her search for understanding and connection with the natural world, could inspire many to take care of relationships as if they were precious corals, to capture the beauty of life and feel the energy of nature flowing in everything. It is time to consider Nature as an integral part of ourselves and to call ourselves by its same name.
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OMIWATARI
CANADA | 2022 | 12 MIN
Seen through the eyes of a goddess, a centuries old record of her crossing reveals the cultural losses of climate change.
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Patrick and the Whale*
AUSTRIA | 2022 | 72 MIN
For twenty years, Patrick Dykstra has dedicated his life to travelling the globe, following and diving with whales. Over the years, Pat has learned how whales see and hear, how they perceive other creatures in the water and how they behave at close quarters. He has a finely tuned sense and knows how to act when within touching distance of a whale – what to do, what not to do, and when. This allows him to consistently get closer than anyone else alive – a truly unique skill.
Patrick recently experienced a life-changing event. In Dominica in 2019, he had a close encounter with a female sperm whale. She seemed to be curious about him, coming within touching distance, pulsing him with her sonar. She studied him as he studied her. Patrick felt an overwhelming sense that she was genuinely trying to communicate.
In PATRICK AND THE WHALE, we follow Patrick as he travels to Dominica once again to find this special whale he has named "Dolores", so she can help him show us the hidden world of her species. Using stunning underwater footage, Patrick will explore the fascinating nature of the sperm whale, attempting to shine a light on its intelligence and complexity, as well as highlighting its current and past relationships with humankind.
The film also follows his personal journey and explores the psychology of a man who has sacrificed everything in his single-minded quest to connect with and understand, the biggest creatures in the ocean.
*Please note: Patrick and the Whale is geo-blocked for streaming in Canada only.
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Perpetual Becoming
UNITED STATES | 2022 | 10 MIN
Can a film create a state of devotional meditation? “Listen to the voice of being…” in the Sierra Nevada. An enchanting electronic score immerses the viewer in a voyage of reverence.
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Raid on the Atlantic | North American Premiere
FRANCE | 2023 | 52 MIN
West African waters have been overexploited for more than 40 years, largely by foreign fleets from Europe, Russia and Asia. The collapse of fish stocks threatens fishermen and their families, an important part of Senegalese society.
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Rainwater for All: Collective Infrastructures of Care in the Peruvian Amazon | World Premiere
PERU | 2022 | 6 MIN
In a place where water is plentiful, almost half the population has no running water. In this context, RAINWATER FOR ALL explores the CASA (Amazon self-sustaining cities) proposed to work with the collection of rainwater.
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Soolerikaatukuppam: A Fisherfolk Village | World Premiere
INDIA | 2022 | 30 MIN
The mid-length documentary SOOLERIKAATUKUPPAM: A FISHERFOLK VILLAGE, documents an effort to understand how a broken water network is technologically mended despite the risk to disadvantaged groups in society.
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The Water Network of the Earth | World Premiere
TAIWAN | 2023 | 49.5 MIN
Taiwan is an island of mountains that capture moisture and cause rainfall. Valleys come with mountains and when the water flows down the hillsides of these valleys, it is captured to form rivers and streams. However, in the steepest terrains, when it rains heavily and suddenly, the water level will rise in an instant and flow to the sea, while the land remains as dry as usual. How do we respond to a situation like this? THE WATER NETWORK OF THE EARTH originates in the canals in Taoyuan, Taiwan. and combines the issue of water shortages with the development and usage of water resources to show how our ancestors created a water network with canals, dug ponds where artesian springs are, and canals where rivers are. In the past 300 years, we discover how they created an artificial water network to deal with the natural issue of water shortages and turned a wasteland into fertile farmland with water from the faraway mountains.
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Undersea | North American Premiere
DENMARK | 2022 | 52 MIN
For years Nanna Kreutzmann worked as a photojournalist, documenting disasters and conflict around the world. Eventually the enormity of wars, tsunamis and bloody revolutions created an inner trauma, and forced her to leave her former life behind. But when Kreutzmann discovered freediving, she found her sanctuary. In the underwater world of peace, she began documenting the community that embraced her, at the time of her distress. UNDERSEA is an inspiring portrait of an extraordinary woman’s inner life, rich with beautiful footage from the underwater world where she has finally found a home.
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Water and Ice | Canadian Premiere
ITALY | 2022 | 11 MIN
80 close up shots, 7 seconds each.
80 abstract paintings in motion.
Form, abstraction, light, reflection, movement, flow, colour, transparency, monochrome.
Original audio.
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Water in the Desert | Ontario Premiere
UNITED STATES | 2023 | 13.5 MIN
A young archaeologist surveys Morocco’s ancient irrigation systems in order to uncover the secret to mitigating climate change: looking to the past. WATER IN THE DESERT is a portrait of an optimistic American archaeology student at the University of New Mexico, Emily Hayes-Rich (25), studying the ancient irrigation systems of the Moroccan Sahara called the khettara. Emily explores the history, management, and inherited knowledge of southern Morocco’s irrigation system with the guidance of the local Water Association to map the social structures that have made such a system viable for millennia, and what lessons desert communities of the present and future can gather from these ancient systems. WATER IN THE DESERT explores its subject(s) with a collage-like approach, incorporating interviews with interesting, informative moments as well as more artistic, stylized moments between the camera and the landscape.
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Watermarks | World Premiere
UNITED STATES | 2023 | 14 MIN
WATERMARKS is a short documentary film about inspiring the next generation through environmental leadership. It chronicles the efforts of Ian Smith and dedicated volunteers as they use innovative techniques to bring new opportunities to underserved youth in Indiana County Pennsylvania, creating a community around the next generation of environmental stewardship. Along the way we meet environmental educators and mentors who were inspired by their own time in the program, as well as the youth who hold the key to a sustainable future.
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Wildfire | Toronto Premiere
NEPAL | 2022 | 10:00
WILDFIRE is a short documentary film about a little red panda, a rare species, that has become homeless as a result of the recent 16 day wildfire in the Nepali mid-hills, just one more of a growing number of symptoms of the climate crisis that spares no human or animal.
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#LaterNoMore: Activating Climate Solutions Now!
