River of Grass

First Run

Theatrical Premiere 

Friday October 17– Red Carpet Opening Night

Panelists: Betty Osceola & Director Sasha Wortzel plus film team (Houston Cypress, J. Sterling Bennett, Alexandra Codina, Monica Berra, T. Wheeler Castillo)
Moderator: Cornelius Tulloch (Creative Director, AIRIE)
Co-sponsors: Books & Books Literary Foundation, AIRIE (Artists in Residence in the Everglades)

Saturday October 18 at 1:30 PM – No Airports, No Prisons, Only Everglades
Panelists: Sasha Wortzel, Betty Osceola, Eve Samples, Jessica Namath
Moderator: Bill Kearney (Senior Editor, Sun Sentinel)
Partner: Friends of the Everglades, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Sunday October 19 at 1:30PM – Intergenerational Stewardship
Panelists: Donna Kalil, Deanna Kalil, Houston Cypress
Moderator: Kate Fleming (Founder, Bridge Initiative)
Partner: Love the Everglades Movement, Bridge Initiative

River of Grass is a present-day reimagining of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s groundbreaking book, The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which transformed the public’s understanding of the area from worthless swamps to an essential source of freshwater, enabling the ecosystem to endure, just barely, today.

In the wake of a hurricane, Douglas visits filmmaker Sasha Wortzel in a dream and catalyzes a prismatic study of a wilderness that is home to a rich history and a site of resistance in the face of climate collapse. Wortzel reads Douglas’s book and joins prayer walks through the Everglades with Miccosukee educator Betty Osceola, transporting the audience through the watershed past and present. We meet a mother taking on the polluting sugar industry; a two-spirit Miccosukee environmentalist and poet; a mother-daughter team removing snakes wreaking havoc on the ecosystem; and a family who have fished in the Everglades for six generations.

Warning: This film contains strobing lights.

These screenings include open captions:
Tuesday, October 21 – 6:00 PM
Thursday, October 23 – 6:00 PM

Tickets:
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