Three indigenous communities in the Bolivian highlands fight to protect their water supplies from diversion and contamination amid a national water crisis. The government has consistently supported the expansion of mining and granted miners unrestricted water access. UMA, the Aymara word for water, takes us on a journey from the tropical Andean glaciers and the highest navigable lake in the world to the mines of Oruro, and the vanished Lake Poopo. It is a women's story of displacement, resistance, and struggle for environmental justice.

UMA: Water Crisis in Bolivia

Three indigenous communities in the Bolivian highlands fight to protect their water from diversion and contamination amid a national water crisis. UMA, the Aymara word for water, takes us on a journey from the tropical Andean glaciers and the highest navigable lake in the world to the mines of Oruro, and the vanished Lake Poopó. It is a women's story of displacement, resistance, and struggle for environmental justice.

In February 2020, Sharon Day (Ojibwe) led a group of Water Walkers through the Arizona desert to honor the Salt River. They collected a pail of water at the river’s headwaters then walked in-relay along its path for 5 days — 160 miles — to it’s confluence with the Gila River. Brought together by the shared goal to care for the water, these once-strangers work together to keep the pail moving forward. Roles emerge, community is built, and new relationships develop between the walkers, the water, and the land through which they travel. Through animation, live-shot footage, interview and song, this documentary follows their path across countryside and through the Valley of the Sun — sharing the story of this Indigenous-led ceremony to preserve and be mindful of the waters for our ancestors in the generations to come.

Salt River Water Walk

In February 2020, Sharon Day (Ojibwe) led a group of Water Walkers through the Arizona desert to walk for the Salt River. Through animation and live-shot footage, this documentary travels with the Salt River Water Walkers, describing this Indigenous-led ceremony as it creates community and builds relationships with the earth through the shared goal to care for the water.

The Water Walker is the first project from Seeing Red 6Nations. It stars teenaged climate activist Autumn Peltier, who is Anishinaabe-kwe, from Wikwemikoong First Nation (Manitoulin Island, Ontario). The film is narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Graham Greene (Oneida, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory (Ontario). The Water Walker is a short documentary, tracing the roots, passion and perseverance of young Autumn. We follow her story as she prepares to speak at the United Nations. Autumn is an influential figure in the Indigenous and global youth-led environmental movement. In 2019, 14-year-old Autumn was named the chief water commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation, a position previously held by her late Great Aunt Josephine Mandamin, an elder and founding member of the water protectors movement. Adding to the richness of the storytelling, the filmmakers incorporate Michif (Métis) artist Christi Belcourt’s renowned paintings, brought to life with stunning animated sequences that capture the sacred qualities of water.

The Water Walker

The Water Walker stars teenaged climate activist Autumn Peltier (Anishinaabe-kwe, from Wikwemikoong First Nation). The film is narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Graham Greene (Oneida, Six Nations of the Grand River).  Autumn, an influential figure in the global youth-led environmental movement, was named chief water commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation. We follow her as she prepares to speak at the United Nations.   The Water Walker features Michif (Métis) artist Christi Belcourt’s renowned paintings, brought to life with stunning animated sequences.

Exercises for Being Close to You: A Story for the Arctic Refuge is an experimental documentary that follows a group of hikers through Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. They hope to meet up with the Porcupine Caribou herd to collect stories that could help push back on oil exploration and drilling on the caribou’s birthing grounds. The narrator, admitting to a perverse desire to be close to everything, wants nothing more than to spoon a caribou. As the film culminates in anticipation of the “money shot”, the audience must evaluate their expectations of nature films. Meanwhile, the expedition team is left to weigh intention with strategy when environmental filmmaking mirrors tactics of the extraction economy they are fighting against. The film uses documentary footage of the two-week expedition intercut with experimental vignettes — exercises to rethink our relationship to the land and animals we hope to protect.

Exercises in Being Close to You: A Story for the Artic Refuge

In this experimental documentary a group of hikers travel through Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of intercepting the Porcupine Caribou migration. The film uses documentary footage of the two-week expedition intercut with experimental vignettes — exercises to rethink our relationship to the land and animals we hope to protect.

Krista Davis is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Yukon, Canada. She has ties to Nova Scotia and Arizona as well, that keep her making work between these very different landscapes. Writer Donna Haraway’s call for strategies to “live and die better together on this damaged earth” has become the guiding principal of her work. Through video, animation, performance and multi-media installation, Davis seeks creative, sometimes fantastical strategies to shift perspectives on human and non-human relationships towards a more ecologically just world. Davis’ work has been presented in galleries and festivals across North America, and Europe. She received her BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and MFA from Arizona State University.

Q&A with Krista Davis

Join us for a Q&A with filmmaker Krista Davis hosted by filmmaker and Weengushk Film Institute Board of Directors member Phyllis Ellis

Water is Life Series

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