Premieres Wednesday, April 23, 205 at 11 p.m on KPBS TV / PBS app + Encores Sunday, April 27 at 11 p.m. on KPBS 2 and Monday, April 28 at 7 a.m. on KPBS 2
"Water for Life" tells the dramatic story of three community leaders in Latin America who resisted government and corporate plans to divert critical local water resources to mining and hydroelectric projects.
Despite reassurances from government officials and corporate executives that precious water from rivers and lakes would not be contaminated or siphoned off by development projects, Mapuche Chief Alberto Curamil in Chile, Lenca Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres in Honduras, and subsistence farmer Francisco Pineda in El Salvador feared the worst. Their investigations convinced them that what lay ahead was polluted water and environmental devastation.
The film’s two Indigenous protagonists, Berta Cáceres and Alberto Curamil, view themselves as frontline guardians of Mother Earth, protecting endangered water resources and traditional ways of life. In El Salvador, Francisco Pineda and his multigenerational farming family see themselves as stewards of the earth, maintaining their organic farm while promoting and teaching their methods to community members.
None of these three environmental defenders anticipated the fierce resistance and repression they would face once they began to organize opposition to the mining and hydroelectric projects encroaching on their land. Their insistence on the right to clean water became a matter of life and death.
Through interviews with business leaders, journalists and politicians, the film reveals that while those in power see the exploitation of water resources as one of the keys to economic development, they are often ignoring the legal rights of Indigenous communities and the significant impact development projects will have on the environment.
Massive mining, hydroelectric projects and industrial timber harvesting come at a significant cost to fragile ecosystems already harmed by extreme drought and/or torrential rainfall. Contaminated water runoff from mining can poison all forms of life. Industrial hydroelectric power is promoted as clean energy, but studies show it’s not always sustainable. Diverting water for industrial-scale agriculture and forestry exacerbates these conditions by depleting water tables.
"Water for Life" is a story of courage and determination, betrayal and corruption, death threats and murder, as well as unexpected victories in communities and the courts. A story that begins and ends with water, it asks how economic development can grow in harmony with environmental protections. The film illuminates a growing recognition of Indigenous rights and a rising demand for corporate responsibility and environmental justice around the world.
About the Subjects:
- Alberto Curamil is an Indigenous Mapuche Chief in Chile who, along with fellow Mapuche leaders and community members, fights to protect his ancestral land from corporate development that threatens their sacred river.
- Berta Cáceres was an Indigenous Lenca leader in Honduras who mobilized her community to resist the construction of a hydroelectric project on the sacred Gualcarque River by the Honduran corporation DESA.
- Francisco Pineda is a Salvadoran farmer who fought to stop a proposed gold mine, financed by Pacific Rim, a U.S. corporation, that would deplete precious water resources and poison the water with cyanide.
Watch On Your Schedule: "Water for Life" will be available to stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
Credits: A production of Mill Valley Film Group in association with Latino Public Broadcasting. Directed by Will Parrinello, the film is written and co-produced by Sarah Kass. The producers are Will Parrinello, Rick Tejada Flores and María José Calderón. Stephen Talbot is senior producer. The director of photography is Vicente Franco. The editor is María José Calderón. Original music by Christopher Hedge. The film is narrated by Diego Luna.
