I Am the River, the River Is Me

Streaming video - 2024

The Whanganui River in Aotearoa/New Zealand is the first river in the world to be recognized as a legal person, as a living and indivisible being. Māori river guardian Ned Tapa invites a First Nations Elder from Australia and his daughter, who are activists dedicated to saving their own dying river back home, on a five-day canoe trip down this sacred river. Made over a three-year period, in close collaboration with the Whanganui Māori, the film is a positive, urgent call to action for the rights of nature: now the fastest growing legal movement in the world.