I Am The River, The River Is Me

The Whanganui River is the first river in the world to be recognised as a legal person, as a living adult indivisible being.

Māori river guardian Ned Tapa invites a First Nations Elder from Australia and his daughter, who are activists to save their own dying river back home, on a five-day canoe trip down this sacred river. Both mirror and inspiration, the river unites all the travellers organically, where everyone has a voice to share stories of humour and light and space to heal from the darkness of the past, of enduring historical injustice.

Made over three years, 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.