Flow Interrupted: A Day of Panels, Film & Action
A World Water Film Festival Event as part of Chicago Water Week
Hosted by Emmanuel Pratt at the visionary Sweet Water Foundation, a series of short films, a feature, and speakers, taking hope to action.
At a time when the world feels overwhelmed by overlapping crises, where do we find the hope to keep fighting? We find it in the people living in the solutions. Join us on Monday, May 4, for "Go with the Flow: Where the Water Grows," an immersive, free Chicago Water Week event produced by the World Water Film Festival hosted by Emmanuel Pratt at the visionary Sweet Water Foundation.
This is not another film screening and panel discussion about the problems of water contamination - it is a celebration of the communities, advocates, and storytellers who are forcing change and healing the earth and communities.
EVENT AGENDA
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Welcome, Check-Ins & Nibbles
Guests arrive, check in, and enjoy light refreshments while taking time to walk the public spaces of the Sweet Water Foundation campus, grounding themselves in the space before the program begins.
11:00 AM - 01:00 PM Agriculture & Plant-Based Solutions: From Crisis to Regeneration
Join us for a two-hour film screening and discussion exploring the hidden impacts of industrial farming on water supplies. We pivot from the crisis of contaminated groundwater to the hope of regeneration—highlighting indigenous farming, urban ecology, and "sponge cities" that restore water quality and build climate resilience. Special Guest: Meet Mohamed Salem Mohamed Ali, 2024 honoree of The World Around Young Climate Prize. Traveling from the Smara refugee camp in Algeria, Mohamed shares the extraordinary story of his water-recycling desert garden, proving that true climate innovation emerges from communities forced by necessity to find a way.
Featured Short Films:
A Garden in the Desert, Algeria, from The World Around
The Right to Know, Wisconsin
Dji Mansa: Bambara for 'Water Masters' from AFR'EAU in Mali
The Hōteo Sediment Reduction Project from Water New Zealand
Plantando Raíces en Lago Uru Uru, Bolivia, from The World Around
Sponge Cities Clip from 'Our Blue World'
01:00 PM - 02:00 PM The Common | Wealth Campus Tour
Step outside the screening room to experience regenerative neighborhood development in action. Emmanuel Pratt and the Sweet Water Foundation team will lead attendees on a guided tour of The Common|Wealth, a bio-dynamic campus spanning six city blocks that has transformed vacant lots into a thriving urban ecology center.
02:00 PM - 04:00 PM Storytelling of a Global Environmental PFAS Crisis: "How to Poison a Planet"
The day concludes with a deep dive into one of the greatest environmental disasters of our time: PFAS "forever chemicals" contaminating drinking water worldwide. This segment showcases four powerful forms of storytelling that drive awareness and demand accountability. An animated explainer (Groundwater Explained: PFAS) maps the invisible path of forever chemicals into our bodies. An experimental 16mm art film (Good Neighbors Care) transforms DuPont's pollution of North Carolina's Cape Fear River into a visceral, haunting meditation. A journalistic documentary (Stella, Wisconsin) puts a human face on one of the nation's most contaminated communities. And the award-winning feature How to Poison a Planet, featuring Mark Ruffalo, follows the legal battle against 3M.
Panel Guests:
Michael & Nora Strande — Advocates behind Minnesota's landmark "Amara's Law"
Kate E. Hinshaw — Filmmaker & cinematographer; director of Good Neighbors Care
Nels Lindquist — Filmmaker, Wisconsin Conservation Voters
To learn more about Chicago Water Week and other amazing events click here: https://currentwater.org/chicago-water-week/