Green FF: Down River Jordan + The Wintering Grounds + Paddle

Down River Jordan

Director:Addie Navarro

Runtime:60 minutes

Synopsis: The Jordan River has played a major role in shaping human society as we know it, providing freshwater and fertile soil for some of the earliest civilizations and witnessing the rise and fall of empires. For centuries, the lower Jordan Valley has served as one of the largest bird migration sites in the world, as well as the biologically diverse sanctuary where the flora and fauna of the East African and West Asian continents come together.

Today, the river tells a different story from the life-giving tale it has told for a millennium revealing the devastating impact of human political conflict as Syria, Jordan, and Israel take from the Jordan River without international regulation or waste-management infrastructure. The tension between the riparian nations and the lack of a trilateral water management agreement has allowed for excessive extraction, harmful waste practices, and a tendency to assign blame to others rather than take responsibility for the river’s well-being. As a result, the Jordan River has seen its water flow reduced by 96% over the last sixty years.

The journey begins as five friends attempt to navigate the river from its source in the mountains of the Golan to its endpoint in the Dead Sea. As the group travels south on the water, weaving between Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, they meet the people most affected by the river’s demise, and those fighting fiercely to protect it. Climate change and human conflicts around the world continue to exacerbate water-stress, which can eventually lead to gross mismanagement, water scarcity, and wars.

DOWN RIVER JORDAN is a documentary about hope in the face of environmental destruction, one river’s potential to inspire cooperation, and the source of life that unites us all: water.

The Wintering Grounds

Director: Jeff Springer

Runtime: 21 minutes

Synopsis: For most of the year, bands of world class freestyle kayakers roam the land in search of waves. But when the rivers freeze, everyone finds their way to a special spot on the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama-Georgia border. Squatting in an abandoned parking lot, they spend the winter training for the next world championships on North America’s best winter whitewater. Although called “certifiable lunatics” by the locals, this tight knit group is proof of the power of family and that indeed everything is more fun with friends.

Paddle Tribal Waters

Director: Rush Sturges

Runtime: 21 minutes

Synopsis: When the largest dam removal in history begins, a group of indigenous youth learn to whitewater kayak in hopes of becoming the first people to paddle the restored river from source-to-sea. As the young paddlers reconnect sections of the Klamath River that have not flowed freely for more than a century, they use kayaking to galvanize a movement while reconciling a stolen history and building a future of hope and healing.

Presented as part of Green Film Festival of San Francisco.