Filmvorführung »I Am The River, The River Is Me«

“The great river flows from the mountains to the sea. I am the river, and the river is me.” These words come from the Te Awa Tupua Act, which since 2017 has recognized the Whanganui River in New Zealand as an indivisible and living whole—a milestone for the Māori, who had fought for this for decades. For them, the river is not an object: it is an ancestor, a living being, and shares a common existence with humanity.

In this moving documentary, Māori river guardian Ned Tapa takes family members and friends on a five-day canoe journey along the Whanganui River. Along the way, the audience gains deep insights into the relationship between humans and the river—into a worldview that understands nature not as a resource, but as a living counterpart.

Following the film, Christine Ax, Executive Director of the Network for the Rights of Nature e.V., will explore the topic of the rights of nature in a discussion.

The event is part of the accompanying program for the special exhibition currently on view at the Bremen Harbor Museum, “We Are the River: What Connects Us to the Weser,” and is organized in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Bremen and the “Güterbahnhof Bremen – Areal für Kunst und Kultur.”