2008 Woodie Awards
For The Love Of Water
Sarah Bode
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Lifestyles
Director of "Flow," Irena Salina has the motto, "If you plant the seed of awareness, then actions can grow." With this in mind, Salina set forth to make her eye-opening documentary that investigates the world's water crisis. The documentary was an official selection of the annual Cucalorus Film Festival this year. It screened at Lumina Theater Nov. 15.
Salina claimed that her inspiration came from watching a speech given by Robert Kennedy, Jr. five years ago. The speech concentrated on certain American industries that were continuously polluting America's rivers and waterways. Salina's main concern at the time was the freeborn pathogens that were contaminating the water supplies and eventually building up in our bodies. She then said that this "drew me to pay close attention to any news related to water."
However, Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke's article, "Who Owns Water," fueled the real jumpstart. This article posed the question of who exactly was going to own the world's water supplies. It also brought up the parallel of the water problem to the oil situation.
"This really what got me going." Salina commented.
Because it took Salina four years to complete the documentary, there was plenty time to find people to talk to and interview on the water situation. While Salina's documentary mainly focuses on the common people all over the world, she was fortunate enough to be able to interview the CEOs of two of the three main water-owning companies in the world: Suez and Vivendi. These interviews only helped to build the case against the global privatization of water supplies all over the world in all sorts of communities.
Several places were featured throughout the film as points of interest on this subject. One of them was the water crisis in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1999, the Bolivian government was told by the World Bank they would need to privatize their water supply in order to maintain their loan position with the World Bank. This privatization would increase the cost of water in South America's poorest country. In 2000, the protests began. Police were ordered to restrain the protesters and six people were killed. Finally, the president announced the termination of the water contract and the water supply was given back to the people of Bolivia.
Salina claimed that her inspiration came from watching a speech given by Robert Kennedy, Jr. five years ago. The speech concentrated on certain American industries that were continuously polluting America's rivers and waterways. Salina's main concern at the time was the freeborn pathogens that were contaminating the water supplies and eventually building up in our bodies. She then said that this "drew me to pay close attention to any news related to water."
However, Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke's article, "Who Owns Water," fueled the real jumpstart. This article posed the question of who exactly was going to own the world's water supplies. It also brought up the parallel of the water problem to the oil situation.
"This really what got me going." Salina commented.
Because it took Salina four years to complete the documentary, there was plenty time to find people to talk to and interview on the water situation. While Salina's documentary mainly focuses on the common people all over the world, she was fortunate enough to be able to interview the CEOs of two of the three main water-owning companies in the world: Suez and Vivendi. These interviews only helped to build the case against the global privatization of water supplies all over the world in all sorts of communities.
Several places were featured throughout the film as points of interest on this subject. One of them was the water crisis in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1999, the Bolivian government was told by the World Bank they would need to privatize their water supply in order to maintain their loan position with the World Bank. This privatization would increase the cost of water in South America's poorest country. In 2000, the protests began. Police were ordered to restrain the protesters and six people were killed. Finally, the president announced the termination of the water contract and the water supply was given back to the people of Bolivia.
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