Petr Lom: I am the River, the River is me

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The Whanganui River in New Zealand is the first river in the world to be given the legal status of a person, a living and indivisible being. This happened in 2017 and confirmed the belief and philosophy of the Maoris who perceive nature as their ancestor, believing that it is our duty to take care of it while we are on Earth, and that further care is taken over by our descendants. It is inadmissible to treat nature as private property, nor to exploit it for gaining profit.

This film, which celebrates the Whanganui River and affirms its status, is shaped as a travelogue in which, a group of river guests sail canoes on a five-day indulgence in the pleasure of being carried by its currents and residing on its banks led by the river’s keeper, a Maori community leader. The film introduces us to the almost hypnotic water flows on which the canoes slide and the passengers, amazed by this adventure, sail in them. The camera reveals the beauty of wooded shores, of creatures from land and water, who move together with film heroes through the paradise preserved here. We enjoy the symphony of nature’s sounds, as well as the gathering of devotees who will be able to express their thoughts and wishes under the auspices of the great and powerful Wanganui, to talk about their dreams of preserving nature as an invaluable treasure of our planet.

We also get to know the spiritual being of the Maori people through the music of composer Puoro Jerome, a two-time winner of the Grammy Award, an artist who has given concerts all over the world from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House, known for performing his compositions on traditional Maori instruments. On the banks of the Whanganui River, we also see him, surrendering to the nature that surrounds him, playing while composing the music for this film.

Fifteen years dedicated to the topics of human rights, and now to the rights of nature, producer Corinne van Egeraat and director Petr Lom, lead us to the end of the world with a film that they believe has the power to change us, “to expand our hearts and inspire us to embody our better selves.”

Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand 2023. 
89 minutes 

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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