Madrid's River Holds A Story of Redemption

“Gracias por venir aqui para experimentar juntos esta pelicula. Esta pelicula se trata de amor.” Thank you for coming here to experience this film together. This film is about love. 

What a joy to screen Rave On For The Avon at Another Way Festival, Madrid’s premier sustainability festival. The sold out screening in their 65-seater venue was not just full of people but full of love for our rivers (yes so cheesy, sorry not sorry). A young woman from Colombia in the audience requested a screening at her festival near the Río Frío that her community are trying to protect- this story of love is still spreading!

Mum, Dad and my Spanish family were in the room cheering me on and I gave them a big shout out for helping me to create Spanish subtitles. Uncle Tim and Auntie Azu took great care to translate the film's closing song, a feminist reworking of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. ‘She who would true valour see?… ¿Quién vería el verdadero valor? 

Madrid holds a story of loss and redemption around its river. 

The Manzanares River that flows through Madrid used to be in bad shape. Neglected, polluted, and basically hidden away after a highway was built right over it. You could barely even see or get to the river. But then came the Madrid Río project, and what a transformation. The Government buried the highway underground and turned the whole area into a huge park. That opened the door for the river to be brought back to life. They took out dams, improved the flow, and let the banks return to their natural state. Now the river’s full of plants, birds, fish. Río Manzanares is now home to endangered species.

There is life everywhere and the air feels cleaner, the city quieter. It’s wild how much difference it makes when you actually give a river some love.

We wandered through the park on our way to the screening and there was such life (human, flora and fauna) around this river that runs through a huge city. Thanks to the people who fought to raise this river from the dead.

I was interviewed by Condè Nast's Traveller Magazine to share how this uniquely British story holds a universal truth for us all.