''One Water'' is a 2008 documentary film directed by Sanjeev Chatterjee and Ali Habashi. The film premiered at the 2008

Miami International Film Festival The Miami Film Festival (formerly Miami International Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Miami, Florida, that showcases independent American and international films with a special focus on Ibero-American films. The competitive film fest ...

on 22 February 2008.

Film

''One Water'' is a collaborative project initiated in 2003 at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

between the School of Communication, College of Engineering and the Frost School of Music to address the global freshwater crisis. At the heart of the project was the motion picture ''One Water''. An early short version of the picture was screened at the 12th and 13th sessions of the UN

Commission on Sustainable Development The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was a body under the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) tasked with overseeing the outcomes of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development/Earth Summit. It ...

in New York. A feature version was completed in 2008 and premiered at the Miami International Film Festival. The 68-minute movie was shot in 14 countries and features long tracts of visual storytelling over music and natural sound without words, interspersed with interviews with prominent people, including the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gandhi ...

Robert Kennedy Jr Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theories. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of Presiden ...

., Felipe Fernández-Armesto and

Oscar Olivera Oscar Olivera Foronda (born 1955) was one of the main leaders of the protesters against the water privatization in Bolivia. The result of these protests was an event known as the Cochabamba Water War. Now he is one of the main leaders of the protes ...

, among others.

Donna Shalala Donna Edna Shalala ( ; born February 14, 1941) is an American politician and academic who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as well as in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Shalala is a recipient of the Presid ...

, president of the

, also appears in the film as narrator. The original score for ''One Water'' was recorded in Moscow by the Russian National Orchestra. In 2006, ''One Water'' received major support from the

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

as part of its establishment of the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication, University of Miami. The central idea behind the project was the making of a documentary that would spark the creation of further media on the subject of water around the world. Toward this goal, a partnership with San Francisco-based

Independent Television Service ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly seri ...

(ITVS) would create four nationally broadcast films on water in four countries (Bahrain, Colombia, India and South Africa). These films will be broadcast in these countries around World Water Day (22 March 2009). This partnership has also launched the International Water Journalism website 1h2o.org that is receiving water related multimedia articles produced by journalists around the world. In early 2009, an international television version of the film was created with a script written by Sanjeev Chatterjee and narrated by Hollywood star Martin Sheen Sheen was brought to the project by executive producer, Sam L Grogg who formerly collaborated with Sheen on the theatrical motion picture ''DA''. This version of the documentary aired on Discovery Networks' Planet Green in August 2010. In 2016, the

Stockholm International Water Institute The Stockholm International Water Institute, SIWI, is an independent, not-for-profit foundation, which seeks to strengthen the governance of fresh water globally, regionally, nationally, and locally. Founded in 1991, SIWI performs research, buil ...

(SIWI) and UN-Water commissioned director Sanjeev Chatterjee to create a short version on ''One Water'' featuring multiple winners of the Water Prize that is awarded each year by SIWI. This version of ''One Water'' was screened at the Water Prize celebrations in Stockholm in 2016.

Theme

''One Water'' assesses the deficiency of potable, safe water on a global scale. The movie highlights how communities across the world are dramatically suffering from a lack of our most valuable resource, thanks to

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

and other factors. It becomes apparent that although this issue demands an immediate, workable solution, the problem is not easily resolved. The filmmakers also discuss the vitality of water on parallel spiritual and physical levels.

Water crisis

A 2006

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

report stated that "there is enough water for everyone", but that access to it is hampered by mismanagement and corruption.UNESCO. (2006)
Water, a shared responsibility. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2
The UN World Water Development Report (WWDR, 2003) from the World Water Assessment Program indicates that, in the next 20 years, the quantity of water available to everyone is predicted to decrease by 30 percent. 40 percent of the world's inhabitants currently have insufficient fresh water for minimal hygiene. More than 2.2 million people died in 2000 from waterborne diseases (related to the consumption of contaminated water) or

. In 2004, the UK charity WaterAid reported that a child dies every 15 seconds from easily preventable water-related diseases.

Selected awards

*Winner, Best of Festival, Columbus International Film and Video Festival, 2009. * Winner, Best Cinematography Award and Winner, Honorable Mention, Documentary Feature, Fargo Film Festival, 2009. * Short listed for Awards Jury at 7th Annual Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, Nevada City, California, January 10, 2009. * Winner, Best Documentary at Foyle Film Festival, The Northern Ireland International Film Festival, 2008, Derry, United Kingdom. * Winner of Best Feature Environmental Preservation 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival & Awards, 2008, Los Angeles, California * Winner, Best Film on Sustainable Development at Festival Cinemambiente 2008, Turin, Italy. * Winner, Honorable Mention Inspirational Excellence Award, Documentary Competition, at Bayou City Inspiration Film Festival, 2008, Houston, Texas. * Winner of the AMAP Prize, EcoVision Film Festival, 2007 Palermo, Italy. * Official Program Selection, Agua i Cine, 4th

World Water Forum The World Water Forum (WWF) is an event focusing on perceived issues surrounding water. It is organized by the World Water Council and Global Water Partnership and takes place every three years. Aim World Water Forum aims to: :* Raise awareness ...

, 2006, Mexico City, Mexico (22 min version) * Winner of Documentary Award of Excellence and Best of Competition in Technical Merit Broadcast Education Association, Festival of Media Arts, 2004 (22 min version)

Other selected screenings

* INFOBAE – IV Pan-American Internet Communication Encounter, 9 December 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina. * Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, October 15–11 November 2008, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. * Vancouver International Film Festival, September 25–10 October 2008, Vancouver, BC, Canada. * Highway Africa Conference, Rhodes University, September 2008, Grahamstown, South Africa. * Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change, August 2008, Salzburg, Austria. * International Forum of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Organic World Congress, June 18–20, 2008, Modena, Italy. * Expo Zaragoza, June 14–14 September 2008, Zaragoza, Spain. * Miami International Film Festival, 22 February 2008, Miami, Florida.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.onewater.org/movie.html
School of Communication
2008 films Documentary films about water and the environment Films set in India 2008 documentary films Water scarcity 2000s English-language films