Cambridge ‘Rivers of Film’ Festival 2025: Flowing Together
The first Rivers of Film Festival flowed through Cambridge this autumn — a confluence of art, story, and shared care for the living waters that hold us all. If you attended, please give us feedback.
Over a few days, filmmakers, poets, and river lovers gathered to watch, listen, and reflect. From Oyster Land and Water Is Love to Our Blue World and The Flow of Life, each film offered a different window into our relationship with rivers, their beauty, fragility, and power to connect.
Our celebration at Pembroke College marked the premiere of several micro-commissions created especially for the festival. Among them, underwater footage filmed beneath the River Cam by Mark Barrow invited us to see our local river as few ever have, alive, mysterious, and utterly present.
At the heart of the festival was a simple question:
How will you engage with water and river bodies from this day?
The conversations that followed, in the halls, by the riverbank, and across cups of tea, spoke of belonging, responsibility, and wonder. The River Cam itself became not just a setting, but a living participant in the dialogue.
As the lights dimmed and the final credits rolled, it felt clear that this was only a beginning.
May this festival ripple outward, in the choices we make, the stories we tell, and the care we bring to the waters that sustain us.
You can revisit some of the films and explore recommended readings, podcasts, and local groups below and at the Rivers of Film page.
‘The Last Eel Catcher – Peter Carter’ – film (2012)
Documentary about Peter Carter the last traditional eel catcher of England. Tom Richards – Director/Producer/ Editor, Max Böhlen – Cinematographer/ Editor/ Production Manager.
‘Oyster Land’ – film (2024)
Matthew John Harrison’s documentary spends time with the oystermen of Mersea Island, Essex and also explores the ancient civic oyster ceremonies of the city of Colchester. The film is a flowing journey of working on the waters of an estuary that has sustained a local trade for thousands of years.
‘Black Samphire’ – film (2024)
Horror drama written and starring Cathy Wippel, executive-produced by River Action UK. A subtle, unsettling tale of insidious creeping horror unfolds; screaming darkly to an audience forewarned by folklore, and public outcry across the media of failing water companies, greedy multi-national agri-business and captured environmental regulators.
‘Water Is Love’ – film (2024)
This documentary follows a group of young people grappling with the climate crisis while we journey around the world to share inspiring stories of regenerative ecosystem design to create water retention in communities, villages, and regions. The brilliant animated sequence How Water Makes Climate is a must-watch.
Josh Bilton – Kettles Yard, & his film ‘What Matters’ – film (2025)
Paint What Matters! was a unique commission at Kettle’s Yard celebrating the talent and creativity of children and young people in Cambridge, and particularly with Arbury Primary School students. It was made into a short film.
‘Our Blue World’ – film (2024)
A powerful film exploring humanity’s profound relationship with water reveals how human agency, ingenuity and community spirit can help rebalance the planet’s water systems. Narrated by Liam Neeson.
‘Rave On For The Avon’ – film (2025)
Charlotte Sawyer’s feature-length documentary film that follows a local community’s fight to save their bathing spot in unique, daring & distinctly Bristolian ways. Charlotte created one of the micro-commissions “Avona”
‘Pure Clean Water’ – film (2023)
Is the Cambridge growth phenomenon about to be derailed by a shortage of water? For 250 years a chalk stream, diverted into the town centre, provided Cambridge with drinking water.
Mark Barrow (‘Beneath The Waters’) – follow on instagram
The premiere of his film ‘Flow of Life’ (2025) was shown at our World Rivers Day event at Pembroke College.
Cam Valley Forum – join, subscribe to newsletter or volunteer
CVF works to protect and improve the environment of the River Cam and its tributaries.
Cam Catchment Partnership volunteering – other local opportunities
The Flow by Amy-Beer – Book (2023)
A remarkable book about water and relationship to it, and how it meanders, cascades and percolates through many lives, landscapes and stories. Amy-Jane is involved in the Right to Roam campaign, and contributed a chapter in Wild Service.
