Making the desert bloom?
LIVING WATER is an atmospheric journey into the clash between the state of Jordan, agricultural businesses and Wadi Rum indigenous communities over the last abundant source of drinking water.
World Premiere - 24th Ji.hlava IDFF
International Premiere - Visions du Réel 2021
The feature documentary film emerges as the result of year-long field research.
The film is available now as a part of the Educational package.
Water Value Award / Valor da Água
The Best Water Film of the 27th CineEco in Seia, Portugal
Academia Film Olomouc / Spotlight Award 2021
Director's recognition at the oldest science festival in Europe
Czech Association of Directors and Scriptwriters
Nomination for the Best Debut Film of 2021 by ARAS
Where to watch
Worldwide: online at True Story
3 EUR with 50% discount only now
Trailer
Film Crew
Camera, directing and editing: Pavel Borecký
Location sound and sound design: John Grzinich
Dramaturgy: Veronika Janatková
Colour grading: Branko Avramovski
Graphic design: Daniel Vojtíšek
Music: Shadi Khries
Research supervision: Michaela Schäuble, Elias Salameh
Script consultations: Hussam Hussein
3D groundwater model: Muna Dahabiyeh, Mark Gropius
Technical Specifications
English title: Living Water
Czech title: Žít vodu
Arabic title: ماءٌ حَيٌّ
Genre: observational non-fiction
Release: October 2020
Language: Arabic, English
Subtitles available: Czech, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
Countries of production: Czech Republic, Switzerland, Jordan
Shooting location: Jordan
Runtime: 77 min. / 52 min. TV cut
Format: 4K, 16:9
Sound: stereo / 5.1 Dolby Digital
Director
Pavel Borecký (Prague, 1986) is a social anthropologist, audiovisual ethnographer and film curator. Pavel’s latest films Solaris (2015) and In the Devil's Garden (2018) focused on the consumption culture in Estonia and the question of decolonisation in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Living Water is his first feature documentary film.
Co-producer
Veronika Janatková is a film producer, director and programmer, co-founder of DokuBaku IDFF, the first independent documentary film festival in Azerbaijan. Her directing debut, Ticket to the Moon (2019), deals with utopias in the context of space explorations.
Water Guardians - crowdfunding support
Markéta Broumová, Thomas Burkhalter, Erminia Colucci, Aura Cruz, John C. Grzinich Sr., Josef Minařík, Mike Poltorak, Jana Pyšková and Reto Stamm
Stills
Posters
Synopsis
The vibration of machines echoes across the desert. Ever since Jordanian nomads settled in the spectacular landscape of Wadi Rum, they grew dependent on complex water infrastructure. The source is right below their feet, yet they struggle to meet basic needs.
In the meantime, deep water extraction feeds private large-scale farms, animates visionary development and secures the growing urban population. Bedouins, farmers and city dwellers: all expect to have a fair share, but digging for “blue gold” unleashes an environmental timebomb.
LIVING WATER tells the story of power, exploitation and changing ecological circumstances in one of the most water-poor countries in the world.
Film Reviews
Guardian - Living Water: visually magnificent meditation on Jordanian desert (Phuong Le's review, ENG)
Film-Història - Living Water (Daniel Seguer's review, SP)
Allegra Lab - Living Water, Living lively waters (Chakad Ojani's review, ENG)
Allegra Lab - Living Water and the politics and anti-politics of water in Jordan (Geoffrey Hughes's review, ENG)
Kosovo 2.0 - A Letter to Kosovo's Water Warriors (Pavel Borecký's article, ENG)
The New Arab (Al Araby) - The eternal struggle over water (Nada Al-Azhari's review, ARB)
Cinema #67 - Living Water (Miloš Lazovic's review, GE)
C7inema.net - Living Water: a água e a sua sustentabilidade na Jordânia à lupa (Jorge Pereira Rosa's review, SP)
J:MAG - Living Water de Pavel Borecký donne un aperçu des guerres pour « l’or bleu » (Malik Berkati's review, FR)
Backseat Mafia - CPH:DOX Review - Living Water (Rob Aldam's review, ENG)
Modern Times Review - Jordan’s fragile water resources (Nick Holdsworth's review, ENG)
Business Doc Europe - VdR/CPH: Measuring the competition for water (Geoffrey Macnab's review, ENG)
Variety - ‘Living Water’ Attempts to Raise the Bar on Environmental Documentaries (Will Tizard's review, ENG)
Production
Anthropictures, Pandistan, Institute of Social Anthropology UNIBE
Center for Strategic Studies UJ
produced by Pavel Borecký and Veronika Janatková
in partnership with Art Salam (Paris)
Director:
Pavel Borecký - pavel(at)anthropictures.cz
Order Living Water / get your EDU package
Host a screening with your friends and family, at your company, university or institution. Run a workshop or discuss the film's tailor-made excerpts on "Water rights", "Land rights" and "Climate change" in your class.
Contact us for the details of the Educational Package and Presentation options.
Distribution:
Antipode Sales and Distribution
Elena Podolskaya - elena(at)antipode-sales.biz
Media
OEAD - Water in the focus of film and research (Paul Omondi Omonge and Pavel Borecký in conversation, audio, ENG)
RTVE - Reserva Natural - Conflicto por el agua del desierto de Wadi Rum, en Seminci (interview with Josefina Maestre and Javier Angulo, festival director, SP)
Seminci - Pavel Borecký presents ‘Living Water’ about the lack of water in Jordan (SP, ENG)
Lampoon Magazine - Milano: Directors Jashi and Borecký on Documenting reality at ‘Visioni dal Mondo’ 2021 (interview with Martina Tondo)
Cinecittà - Visioni Dal Mondo International Documentary Festival kicks off in Milan
Institute of Documentary Film - True Story, episode 11: Living Water (interview with Nicole J. Adelman)
Visit Jordan - "Living Water" - un documental ambiental
UPOL Journal - AFO56 winners announced
CBA Radio - Film in Conversation: Living Water (interview with Lauren Wagner)
Radio Wave - Kazík: "What resonates in today's documentary film, it is interdisciplinarity" (CZ)
Film New Europe - Czech documentaries selected for Visions du Réel, CPH:DOX and Hot Docs
Czech Film Center - Living Water to internationally premiere at the Visions du Réel Festival 2021
dok.revue - The world is facing a crisis, writing scientific studies is not enough (interview, CZ)
Czech Radio Vltava - ArtCafé (interview, audio, CZ)
RTVS Radio - Living City (panel discussion, audio, Slovak)
Visions du Réel Statement (ENG) / Q&A with Pavel Borecký (ENG)
True Story (ENG) / The Guardian Review (ENG)
Czech Technical University (CZ) / Czech Academy of Sciences - Center for Theoretical Study (CZ)
AFO Talks (CZ) / AFO: On water as a non-renewable resource (CZ)
Upcoming screenings
Past screenings
Ji.hlava IDFF - "Testimonies" competition - Czech Republic - 27/10 - 11/11 / 2020
Center for Theoretical Study, Czech Academy of Sciences - Guest lecture - Czech Republic - 4/3 / 2021
Visions du Réel - National competition - Switzerland - 15/4 - 25/4 / 2021
Movies that Matter - Earth at Stake (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs selection) - Netherlands - 16/4 - 25/4 / 2021
CPH:DOX - CPH:Science - Copenhagen, Denmark - 21/4 - 12/5 / 2021
CPH:DOX - CPH:Academy - Guest lecture - Denmark - 29/4 / 2021
Academia Film Olomouc - Czech & Slovak competition - Czech Republic - 27/4 - 11/5 / 2021
ethnocineca - Austria - 6 - 13/5 / 2021
ethnocineca + Visual Studies Platform + Vienna Visual Anthropology Lab - Master Class on Ecography: anthropological films and climate change - online - 12/5 / 2021
EthnoKino - Bern, Switzerland - 17-20/6 / 2021
European Film Festival Palić - EcoDox Competition - Subotica and Palić, Serbia - 23/7 / 2021
DokuFest - Green Dox Competition - Prizren, Kosovo - 6-14/8 / 2021
Nancy International Film Festival - International competition - Nancy, France - 27/8 - 5/9 / 2021
Visioni dal Mondo - International Competition - Milan, Italy - 16-19/9 / 2021
European Film Festival - Official Selection - Stockholm, Sweden - 8-10/10 / 2021
CineEco - International Feature Film Competition - Seia, Portugal - 9-16/10 / 2021
Seminci - Valladolid International Film Festival - Climate Change Competition - Spain - 23-30/10 / 2021
Anthropology and Conservation Conference - The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland - UK - 25-29/10 / 2021
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival - Great Britain - 1-14/11 / 2021
Arica Nativa Rural Film Festival - Mallku competition - Arica, Chile - 7-14/11 / 2021
Heritages, Global Interconnections in a Possible World - International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences - Mexico + virtual congress - 9-13/11 / 2021
Terraviva Film Festival - Bologna, Italy - 16-20/11 / 2021
This Human World Film Festival - Wien, Austria - 2-12/12 / 2021
India International Science Festival - Goa, India - 10-13/12 / 2021
Liberation Docfest - Dhaka, Bangladesh - 11-15/3 / 2022
Arab Film Days + "Water shortage in the Arab World" discussion - Oslo, Norway - 16-20/3 / 2022
Cultureels - Helsinki, Finland - 21-23/4 / 2022
GIEFF - 16th German International Ethnographic Film Festival - Göttingen - 25-29/5 / 2022
What Day Will Not Give Us Will Give Us Night - art festival - talk with Greenpeace - Prague, Czech Republic - 15-19/6 / 2022
HMKW Berlin - MA Visual and Media Anthropology Programme - Germany - 1/8 / 2022
MakeDox - Special Selection - Skopje, Macedonia - 18-25/8 / 2022
Manifesta 14 - Prishtina, Kosovo - 19/8-1/9 / 2022
APA Conference: Challenges, Uncertainties and Resistances - Évora, Portugal - 6-9/9 / 2022
CineFest - Miskolc, Hungary - 9-17/9 / 2022
Ethnosymposium - Berlin, Germany - 16-18/9 / 2022
European Film Festival - Valletta, Malta - 11-16/10 / 2022
China International Conference of Science and Education Producers - Shenzhen, China - 26-28/10 / 2022
Etnofilm + International Jury - Čadca, Slovakia - 8-11/11 / 2022
Glimmerglass Film Days - Cooperstown, NY, USA - 10-14/11 / 2022
Terni Film Festival - International competition - Terni, Italy - 12-20/11 / 2022
Aswat Film Festival - Beirut, Lebanon - 23-25/11 / 2022
Eyes and Lenses - National Ethnographic Museum - Warsaw, Poland - 25-27/11 / 2022
London School of Economics (LSE) - Department of Anthropology - with Dr Mason and Dr Wojnarowski - London, UK - 8/12 / 2022
Days of Ethnographic Film - Opening Film - Slovenian Cinematheque - Ljubljana, Slovenia - 23-27/2 2022
Clerkenwell Design Week - Solus Ceramics - video installation to accompany "Cloud to Cloud" object by Iris Ceramica and Szczepaniak Teh - London, UK - 23-25/5 2023
Containall - "Living Water: How to Connect Arts, Sciences and Activism" public lecture - Prague, Czech Republic - 30/5 2023
SIEF 2023 - "Living Uncertainty" Film Programme - curated by Michal Pavlásek - Brno, Czech Republic - 8/6 2023
Charles University: Kampus Hybernska - Summer screening - Prague, Czech Republic - 23/8 / 2023
Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - 22-23/10 2023
Memory of Nations Institute - Special screening + lecture - Brno, Czech Republic - 15/11 2023
Center for Architecture and Metropolitan Planning - Prague, Czech Republic - 24/11 2023
Ammar Khammash, watercolor, 2006, 32cmx26cm