Rave On For The Avon tells Avona's story

It might be hard to comprehend rivers as ‘alive’ but it seems intuitive to describe them as ‘sick’ or ‘dying’ writes Bristol 247 Environment reporter Ursulla Billington in her article about the next stage of Director Charlotte Sawyer's filmmaking. This teaser is for Charlotte's latest film Avona. Sign up to our newsletters to keep in touch with the movement and a chance to see the film when it's out.

“We can’t access nature, we can’t swim in rivers, only three per cent of riverbanks in the UK are uncontested. We are physically cut off and we’ve also lost those ceremonies that might have helped us reflect on that. That’s why in Bristol this movement is not just citizen scientists testing the water – it’s artists, activists, filmmakers, storytellers.

“People are really connecting to the nature rights movement. It’s a shift in understanding of our relationship to nature, from separation and extraction to relationship and reciprocity,” says Sawyer. “The movement isn’t trying to say the river is a person, but is trying to expand our understanding of what life is, how we connect with and live alongside non-human life.”

“For ordinary people who don’t want to pollute for profit it’s so hard for us to affect change, it’s such a long journey. We need respite from that. People need creativity just to keep going and have hope.”

Charlotte pictured below on the left went on tour with her film and Mrs Meg Avon who marries the river in the film. Together they are making a documentary short film about Avona's creation.