science fiction dystopia and it became a documentary . Which is very disturbing .
Q : Water is an issue that impacts the lives of women and girls the most . Can you talk about the framing of and centering on women characters in this story , and more specifically , women of color ?
A : On the average , women in Africa and parts of Asia walk 15 kilometers every day to collect water . It often keeps young girls out of school because they have to carry the weight of collecting water for the family .
I began to see that if you ’ re talking about gender equality , you ’ re talking about water . If you ’ re talking about women ’ s rights and the rights of women and girls in the developing world , you ’ re talking about water .
I felt it was a more complex story because the corporate executive is African-American . We have some sense in her historical memory of water as sacred . There ’ s a short baptism scene where her character is torn between the way she ’ s been brought up by her family and grandmother and the corporate world she inhabits . I thought this relationship between these two women around water was a powerful one .
Q : Speaking of the relationship between water and people , at the end of the film you offer the following endnote , “ Who controls water controls life .” What do you believe the connection between water and privilege is ? What we can do to change that ?
A : I think the truth is simple and terrifying : the demand for water is greater than the supply . We want to believe this is like a Star Wars movie in a galaxy far , far away but there are no borders to this water crisis .
We ’ ve seen in places like Flint , Michigan what happens when there ’ s corruption around water , and the dangers we have in places like New York around fracking . We ’ re beginning to realize it can be gone in a moment , this thing that we take for granted .
As water becomes incredibly scarce , corporations are vying for every last drop to privatize and profit from this life-giving substance . Water is a human right that cannot be bought and sold . We are the stewards of water for future generations . It ’ s our job to make sure it stays clean , that it stays accessible , and that it stays in the commons gathered by everyone .
Q : How has the film been used beyond the screen ? How has it been utilized as a tool for education and activism ?
A : I ’ ve always been an eco-activist . My love for filmmaking and my love for stories of the underdog have always been central to the kinds of stories I tell .
What I had was a passion to do something and tell a story . I never really dreamed it would be an organizing tool for someone to use in 40 villages across Africa , where it was taken off laptops and translated from the English subtitles into the provincial African languages and used as a way of talking about
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