I Am the River, The River is Me
Director Petr Lom follows the Whanganui River in New Zealand and shows why indigenous thinking has become more urgent than ever as we face the climate crisis.
In 2017, the Whanganui River in Aotearoa, New Zealand, became the first river in the world to be awarded legal personhood. This was the outcome of a more than 150-year-long legal battle by the Maori, who see the river as their ancestors, as an indivisible and spiritual being.
Ned Tapa, the Maori guardian of the river, takes the filmmaker and activists on a five-day canoe trip on the impressive river. The journey offers lightness and humour, but also an opportunity to acknowledge the colonial exploitation of indigenous people.
I AM THE RIVER, THE RIVER IS ME is more than a journey through a breath-taking landscape and a society that seems far removed from our Western one – it is also a call to action; a call to rethink our dealings with nature for the sake of all future life on earth.