Water - Stories from a Changing World

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From oceans and rivers to glaciers, groundwater and the water systems that sustain our food and agriculture, these films take us around the world to encounter stories of environmental crisis, resilience, conservation and creative response. Four short films offer intimate and contrasting perspectives on our relationship with water, opening up questions that resonate far beyond the places in which they were made.

The evening will bring together stories from Alaska, India, Switzerland and Iran before turning to the Dead Sea and the complex ecological and political landscape surrounding it. Through these global stories, we’ll consider the connections between water, biodiversity, food systems, communities, development, pollution and climate change — and ask what these stories might have to say to us here in Ireland.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion bringing together perspectives from climate action, ecology, environmental law, heritage and community work, exploring how global water stories connect with the realities of life here in Ireland.

Hosted by Tasneem Khan of SEA School Studios & Labs (on behalf of ALT EFF) and Jackie Gorman of Midlands Science, the evening invites us to look at water not simply as a resource, but as a living connection between ecosystems, communities, agriculture, biodiversity and our shared future.

• 7:00pm — Welcome & IntroductionTasneem Khan introduces the evening, the ALTEFF curation and the theme of water.

• 7:05pm — Short Film Programme

• 8:00pm — Break with pizza and soft drinks, with a reusable keep cup for everyone to take home.

• 8:15pm — Panel Discussion

• 8:40pm — Feature Film Eulogy for the Dead Sea

  
  

School of Fish — Oliver Sutro & Colin Arisman | USA | 19 mins | 2023

In Bristol Bay, Alaska, Indigenous communities have lived alongside salmon for thousands of years. This intimate film follows one family’s seasonal fishing traditions and the young people learning to become guides and conservationists, as they face the threat of the proposed Pebble Mine and the potential pollution of one of the world’s great salmon habitats.

Lost Songs of Sundari — Sudarshan Sawant | India | 9 mins | 2025

In Mumbai, bridges and land reclamation are transforming a landscape once shaped by islands, creeks and the sea. Through the stories of Koli fishing communities and the legend of a ferrywoman named Sundari, the film explores what is lost when urban development disconnects people from the waterways and traditions that have sustained them.

Crying Glacier — Lutz Stautner & Philipp Becker | Germany/Switzerland | 14 mins | 2023

Sound artist Ludwig Berger visits Switzerland’s Morteratsch Glacier to record its creaks, cracks and flowing waters as it melts. An atmospheric meditation on listening to a changing environment, the film captures sounds that may themselves disappear as the glacier retreats.

The Sprayer — Farnoosh Abedi | Iran | 9 mins | 2022

In a world where green plants are forbidden, a soldier is ordered to spray poison on any vegetation he finds. When he discovers a seed, however, something begins to change. With no dialogue, this striking animated film explores destruction, resistance and the fragile possibility of regeneration.

Eulogy for the Dead Sea Polina Teif | Canada/Palestine/Jordan/Israel | 1 hr 21 mins | English, Arabic, Hebrew | 2022

The Dead Sea is disappearing at an extraordinary rate, its waters falling by around a metre each year as a result of water diversion and mineral extraction. Moving through landscapes marked by abandoned infrastructure and the Dead Sea’s receding shoreline, the film explores the relationship between ecology, extraction, borders and conflict, offering a powerful portrait of a landscape in transformation.

The films will open into a conversation with specialists working across climate action, heritage, ecology, environmental law and community inclusion:

● Catherine Casey — Head of Climate Change, The Heritage Council

● Aoife Doolan — Community Arts Inclusion Worker, Athlone Family Resource Centre

● Alison Hough — Law Lecturer, Technological University of the Shannon

● George Smith — Ecologist, Blackthorne Ecology

The discussion will explore the different ways water connects our environments and communities, from rivers, lakes and groundwater to agriculture, biodiversity, pollution, development and climate change — and what global stories of water can reveal about the landscapes around us.

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