The fifth edition of the We Art Water Film Festival has just announced its four winners. The short films confirm, once again, the value of cinema as a tool to convey and share knowledge and emotions, two essential elements to make progress in the enormous planetary challenge: we have one water but very different ways of having access and relating to it.

The winners of the fifth edition of the We Art Water Film Festival will be announced on Monday, World Water Day. The selected 45 short films compose a journey filled with revelations and emotions through our relationship with water. Each piece is a deep reflection about its value and can be extended to anyone around the world. With this Festival, the value of water expands to the art of communication, essential to ensure that everyone has access to it.

In all activities carried out during this hard year, we have been faced with human suffering, but we have also found hope. Hope generated by the knowledge of being understood and helped; the one generated by the enthusiasm and generosity of the institutions we collaborate with. These have redoubled their efforts despite all difficulties and deserve our admiration and gratitude. We will continue to be there, collaborating to overcome them, because we share the conviction that solidarity is a never ending asset.

The disruption of the access to water and the deterioration of sanitation are almost omnipresent in all conflicts. In general, this is a little known aspect that extends suffering beyond combat areas. It is the case of the eastern zone of Ukraine, described in the short film War and Water, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 4. There are currently 25 armed conflicts in the world and more than 75 million displaced due to violence.

Water pollution due to illegal gold mines is a serious problem in Ghana, a country in which 70% of the diseases are caused by unsafe water. Galamsey is a phenomenon that prevents the economic growth of the country and pollutes rivers and aquifers to lethal levels. This is the case of the Ghanaian protagonist of the short film Nothing Has Changed, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 4.

What do you need to say about climate? How does it affect your community? And the world? Bring light to all these problems you know exist and provide us your vision. In this edition of the We Art Water Film Festival, we have added the climate crisis we are experiencing to the theme of access to water and sanitation. The world needs what your vision can provide. Tell it in the words of cinema!

The overexploitation of aquifers is worsening the problems caused by the natural pollution of water in many areas with hydric stress. The levels of fluoride, arsenic and other chemical compounds that are harmful to health affect millions of people all around the world, causing a very serious health issue. This is the case described by the Mexican short film Necesidad que mata (A need that kills), finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 3.

The access to water or the lack thereof defines two types of homes: the comfortable ones, which allow a dignified and healthy life, and the ones which cannot provide their owners with anything remotely similar. Many of the 2.185 billion people with no safe access to water dream of having it at home. This is the case of the Cameroonian protagonist of the short film Utopia, finalist of the We Art Water Film Festival 3.