Around the world water is being privatized, not reaching those who need it most and with public access being snatched from the ground below. This is a recipe for disaster. Unsparing in its critique, A World Without Water reveals the international battle for water ownership through gripping stories of families and communities in Bolivia, Tanzania and India. They fight both multinationals and their own governments to gain and retain access to life's most precious resource.

After a young boy leaves a bathroom tap running idle, his sister began to witness the destruction first hand. She decides to take matters into her own hands and resolves to teach her brother the true meaning of water conservation with some help from her pet fish.

Water is a finite commodity for which humans have seemingly infinite need. And, whenever there is need, there is someone looking to capitalize. Whether it’s in Soweto, South Africa, the slums of Buenos Aires, or pleasant retirement and recreation communities in California, supplying people with water has become a profitable business. Residents of Oakhurst, California, may purchase their water in a clean, clear plastic jug from “The Quality Water Store;” while a slum-dweller in South Africa uses a discarded plastic pail to scoop water from standing pools, often disgustingly polluted. Dead in the Water investigates the results of privatization efforts in several key locations, and chronicles what many see as the first in a wave of battles in years to come.

“I was born beneath this water; I was ten years old when it happened,” says the young narrator.

A village condemned to disappear beneath the rising waters. Voices filled with emotion. Piece by piece their lives are broken down and relocated. All that remains are their memories.

It’s a common fact that people will move at some point in their life. But what happens when a village needs to be relocated and what has caused this momentous decision?

The village is Luz- in Portugal. It had to be relocated because of the construction of the Alqueva dam. Over the course of 6 years the filmmakers documented those most affected by this emotional process.

“What are you reading daddy?”
“I am reading the water”
“Read it with me”
Filmed off the coast of Maine, filmmaker Niklas Vollmer creates an experimental, personal visual poem about father- son relationships. Drawing parallels between his father – a biologist and professor – and the environment of his childhood, ecology serves as a metaphor for exploring the depths of masculine relationships and the need to sustain familial bonds. Vollmer explores the complexities and fragilities of the family ecosystem through three generations of males. Reading the Water allusively uncovers the meaning that lies beneath surfaces, to understand what is hidden below.

Just weeks after its discovery, residents of Singapore quickly realized that Chek Jawa - the last remaining untouched inter-tidal area in Singapore - was doomed for urban development. One final attempt is made by a group of volunteers to preserve Chek Jawa, in their minds and in their hearts. An action leads to an unsuspecting shift in government policy, forever changing the course of Nature Conservation in Singapore.

Water is life!

A dire shortage of water leads the people of a sub-Saharan village to pack up their goats and cattle and head off across the sands in search of a more dependable source. Traveling without a map, village school teacher Rahne (Issaka Sawadogo) makes the courageous decision to go east with his wife Mouna (Carole Karemera Umulinga, - HBO’s Sometimes in April, 2005) and their three small children.

Sounds of Sand is a dramatic tale of exodus, survival and hope. It is also a parable about determination that brings us into the footsteps of Shasha. Shasha is a nomad child full of the joys of life, whose tenacity and strength will conquer her father’s love when everything else seems lost. The film is based on the novel Chamelle by Marc Durin-Valois.

On the Indu-Bhutan International border, 650, 000 of the Bodo ethnic majority divert the course of the Pagladia river to 116 villages through 13 embankments. They are taking the river home from a rerouted course created in the 1920's. Only utilizing natural environmental sound, the film portrays the community’s collective action at the very first embankment by the river’s origin. They lift stone by stone, else they cease to exist.

Austin Texas is a boomtown in the late 1970’s, a place where a west Texas farm boy believes he will make his fortune. He spearheads the fastest selling subdivision in the state until word gets out that the local treasure, a fragile limestone aquifer and naturally spring fed swimming hole is threatened. The community springs to action, fights back and forms one of America’s strongest environmental movements. Later, the whole Savings and Loans scandal of the 1980’s explodes, putting development on hold. But the story doesn’t end there. This visually stunning meditative work of art makes us ponder our understanding of property rights, public space, development, and our ability to be custodians of the natural world. When we dream, what are we really wishing for?

32 years of dictatorship left the country of Indonesia underdeveloped and severely deprived economically. But a revolution is underway, shaped from the ground up; leading the way is Quebecer Gilles Raymond.

Gilles Raymond is the water bearer. Along with the men and women of Flores Island, Indonesia, he is helping to develop running water systems one village at a time. Muslims and Catholics work side-by-side as the quest for fresh running water transcends religion and money, establishing a direct democracy and autonomy to the people of the island. This is an open look at how action and results can be achieved through generosity, with the belief that solidarity will lead to transformation.

Water privatization battles are very common around the world.

Unfortunately, the economic troubles familiar to Detroit since Henry Ford’s relocation have also affected Highland Park mercilessly. Highland Park on the verge of bankruptcy in 2001, appointed an emergency financial manager who described herself as basically having the powers of a "dictator." Her main responsibility is to pull the city out of debt. Her only sure footed plan was to privatize and treat water as necessary commodity that could yield a profitable return.

The Water Front has a gripping plot and that could easily be compared to David vs Goliath. The soundtrack provides a moving background as each cast members engages in a hometown struggle that resonate within anyone who uses their tap and takes pride in their home.

In Matamoros, Mexico, a severe water shortage led the city to take the unusual step of putting local children in charge of changing adult attitudes and habits. Thousands of school-children grades 4-7 were enlisted as "Water Detectives". Among them, Mariana, Carlos and Raoul who narrate their own experience as Water Detectives and how they were authorized to give "tickets" to transgressors seen to be wasting water. The municipality followed up by fixing leaks and visiting homes resulting in reducing water consumption by nearly 20% in just one year! Children do make a difference.

From its headwaters in Canada to its vast delta on the Bering Sea, the Yukon River is the second-longest river in North America, flowing 2300 miles. Mining, manufacturing, military encampments and human settlement have all contributed to its polluted state. But instead of finger-pointing and blaming the polluters of their territories, the native people who live along its embankment from Canada and Alaska have joined forces taking leadership and responsibility for protecting their own lands, waters, animals and fish. They have formed the largest international treaty organization in the world. Yukon Circles follows their remarkable story.