ACQUA RES PUBLICA
A proposal for a series of three documentary films
written and directed by Julie Balestreri Eby
co-directed by Layla Staats
(in development)
At the heart of our existence, a drop of water crystallizes the quintessence of our common good, of what all life needs. Water is the rhythm of natural cycles and allows all living things to develop. Yet in our contemporary societies dominated by economic exchanges, we often consider it as a simple resource, even as an economic or commercial good. And in the face of climate change, we are beginning to feel and even to pay for the consequences of our activities and our use – and misuse – of freshwater.
Reassessing our relationship to water means rethinking our place in the world :
our relation to ourselves, to others, and to the planet.
Mural by Dodo Ose – Projet Tyxna ©
In a world where water can be both abundant and destructive, where its absence can cause desertification and threaten entire ecosystems and its overabundance causes catastrophic damage in urban and rural environments, it becomes the reflection of our common destiny. This precious drop is more than a chemical element or resource to be exploited, and remains the most invaluable, even priceless, thing in life. Yet it is taken away, sanitized, distributed, wasted, plasticized, privatized, soiled, purified – under the Anthropocene, water is marked by human footprints and pathways and access is still problematic for 30% of the world’s population. According to UNICEF, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water in their homes.
How do we view water and how should we view it? How do we assess the value we attribute to it? How can we rethink our relationship to this vital element so that the future of the human species and biodiversity can be ensured?
Through a journey through the cycles of water, natural and anthropogenic, the series of documentary films questions philosophers, scientists and civil society members engaged in our relationship with water and the tensions that are becoming more and more prominent between our uses, our needs and those of all other communities of living and the global balance disturbed and affected by our activities.