The spirit of the Florida Everglades is distilled with poetic beauty in River of Grass, a multi-faceted look at the climate crisis with an eye towards history and local specificity. Director Sasha Wortzel previously brought the short films Happy Birthday, Marsha! (Frameline42) and How to Carry Water (Frameline47) to the Festival, and now returns with this evocative piece of nonfiction filmmaking.

River of Grass utilizes archival footage and finds inspiration in the writing of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, all serving a vital message of preservation and protection of the fragile environmental present. Wortzel captures the plight of the community to fight for the local wildlife, gracefully weaving a tapestry that considers this ecosystem in both a spiritual and physical sense. As history and a terrifying future collide in the filmmaker’s soulful verse, the film’s composition penetrates with its daring call to action.