Rave On For The Avon: A Journey with Wildscreen and Beyond

Charlotte Sawyer Director of Rave On For The Avon, Photo by Mrs Meg Avon

From winning an award at one of the world’s leading wildlife film festivals, to touring the UK and travelling all the way to Colombia to screen the film and mentor emerging filmmakers, Rave On For The Avon has taken a journey far beyond the banks of the Bristol Avon. Now, after its international festival run, this story of love, creativity and connection to rivers is heading online Thurs 17th Feb for a 24 hours with Surfers Against Sewage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V84OmOUIoG4

Rave On For The Avon began as a very Bristol story, about people, rivers and love. It’s about this love people have for their rivers and the strange, creative, joyful ways they fight to protect it. This film is a fresh perspective on grassroots activism, described as the 'love actually of the documentary genre' the film focuses on the love, joy and connection to nature, not just on the problem of sewage pollution. It's fun, joyful and as quirky as the activists who mermaid along the river towing an inflatable poo, build wild swimming infrastructre around the council's 'no swimming' sign and marry the river.

I was honoured to be selected by Wildscreen Festival, one of the world’s leading wildlife film festivals. For a grassroots documentary made close to home, that already felt like a win. Being awarded Wildscreen’s Sustainability Merit Award on top of that was unexpected and very welcome, a nod to the people and river lovers who made the film what it is.

After the festival, Rave On For The Avon joined the Wildscreen Tour, screening in Exeter and London, including events during London Rivers Week. Watching the film leave Bristol and land with new audiences confirmed that this wasn’t just a local story.

Then things went much furhter. With the support of Wildscreen Festival and the British Council, I travelled with the film to Colombia. I visited the Andes region of Quindío to screen the film and run workshops for emerging filmmakers as part of Cine en las Montañas Festival (Cinema in the Mountains) in Salento.

Set alongside the Quindío River, the experience was something else. The film clicked instantly as a shared language about care, resistance and connection to water. Working with filmmakers there and swapping stories about rivers, landscapes and activism made it clear how universal these themes are. The region is packed with wildlife, from hummingbirds to Andean condors, and the workshops focused on telling grounded, honest stories about people protecting the places they love.

I ran two days of filmmaking workshops with emerging filmmakers from Colombia.

Wildscreen’s continued support, backing this very Bristol film and helping take it all the way to Latin America, was pretty special. Alongside Wildscreen’s Programme Manager Charlie and Cine en las Montañas Festival Coordinator Andrea, the whole trip felt collaborative and inspiring.

From a small river in Bristol to screenings and conversations in Colombia, Rave On For The Avon became bigger than I ever planned for. And now, the journey continues.

The film will have its online premiere on Thursday 19th February, making Rave On For The Avon available to watch wherever you are, and whatever river runs near you.

And now I'm looking forward to participating in Wildscreen's Webinar: So you want to be an Official Selection Filmmaker? How the film came about, my process, and what it meant to me for the film to be a part of Wildscreen's Official Selection.