The destruction of the Tanjaro River ecosystem shows that all is lost when water is polluted. Its recovery is also becoming an example of the difficulties of governance in a country that has not recovered from several wars. The short film Tanjaro is Dying, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 5, shows the disastrous consequences of the uncontrolled growth of a city in a region that has almost no memory of peace.

Myanmar’s northern regions are subject to the climate variability that monsoon Asia is experiencing. Water stress increases, disrupting the supply in places that had never experienced any shortages. The short film Everyday Needs shows the solidarity of two water vendors that donate it to those most in need.

Africa’s largest island is facing a serious humanitarian emergency. Drought and sand storms have unleashed one of the worst food crises in the history of a country with endemic deficiencies in water infrastructures and with a governance that is incapable of adequately managing the territory. The short film Where to go?, finalist at the We Art Water Film Festival 5, provides direct evidence of a crisis that threatens to kill more than a million people.  

The last herders survive in Mongolia, victims of globalization and climate change. Most of them have migrated to the capital, taking their yurts, tarpaulin dwellings where they live without running water, electricity or sanitation. Water Trolley, the short film by Toguldur Chuluunbaatar, finalist of the micro-documentary category at the We Art Water Film Festival 5, shows us a child’s daily fight to provide his family with water in one of Ulan Bator’s marginal neighborhoods.

The degradation of the Mithi River has become an icon of water pollution, a definite and poignant image of the worst end for waste caused by human activity, especially that of the poorest neighborhoods. The micro documentary Plastic River, finalist of the We Are Water Film Festival 5, covers the best images of this indecency. Finding out the reasons for this disaster is as important as learning from the efforts made to solve it.  

Migration due to poverty, violence and neglect has led to the overcrowding of hundreds of thousands of people within a few kilometers of the center of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The causes of the creation of slums follow a universal pattern that show us where to find the shortcomings of the universal justice we wish to create. The short filmRaindrops, by Stephen Okoth, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 5, recreates a real common story in Kibera and in all marginal neighborhoods around the world.

The “boat people” who live on board precarious vessels on Lake Manchar are discouraged about their future. Water pollution and salinization has almost stopped providing them with fish, forcing them to migrate to the mainland or towards the sea. The Floating Family, finalist in the micro-documentary category at the We Art Water Film Festival 5, recounts the precarious situation of the last fishermen who survive in Pakistan’s largest lake.

Salinization due to climate change and the reduction of sediments affect most deltas worldwide. The unsustainable management of land and water aggravates the decline of ecosystems and causes situations that must be urgently reverted. In the Mekong Delta, farmers try to survive in spite of these problems. Their daily fight has inspired the short film The Thirst for Freshwater, finalist in the micro-documentary category at the We Art Water Film Festival 5.