FILM AND DISCUSSION
WHEN
WHERE
Kino achteinhalb
Nauwieserstraße 19,
66111 Saarbrücken
LANGUAGE
Original with subtitles | EN & DE
PROGRAMME
Can a river hold rights as a legal person? In 2017, a clear and affirmative answer was given to this question, which fundamentally challenges conventional legal thinking. That year, the Whanganui River in Aotearoa (New Zealand) became the first river in the world to be granted legal personhood. The film I Am the River, the River Is Me documents the Māori struggle to protect this vital river and explores wider global movements that seek to preserve rivers and establish legal frameworks for their defence.
With sensitivity and nuance, Czech filmmaker Petr Lom offers insight into a deeply local political effort to protect the natural world – and all the complexities that come with that local grounding. The screening at Kino achteinhalb is part of a collaboration between the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation and philosopher and writer Camille de Toledo. A leading figure in international debates on the legal rights of rivers, Toledo co-founded the International of Rivers (Internationale des rivières), which advocates for legal representation of rivers across different legal and cultural contexts. The challenges posed by these regional differences are made vividly clear by the meticulous eye of the camera in I Am the River, the River Is Me.
A panel discussion with Camille de Toledo, moderated by Hannah Steurer, will follow the screening.
More information about the event is available here.
IN COOPERATION WITH
I see it as as my responsibility to pass on what has been given to me.
Ned Tapa (guardian of the Whanganui River)