Matasila Freshwater

Eight connecting moments of seemingly different lives thread together Vai’s journey of empowerment through culture over her lifetime. Beautifully shot over seven Pacific countries, and played by a different indigenous actress in each place, Vai links together a story of family, culture, and at times, isolation. A delicate exploration into the meaning of growth, adaptation, and most notably, a connection to water and home.

When a Solomon Islands teenager encounters bullying and microaggressions at school, she must take fate into her own hands with assistance from her family’s guardian spirit.

When an enormous mine threatens the Sepik River, Papua New Guinean activist Manu Peni and his people launch an urgent mission to protect the waterway, by recognising the river’s own Right to Life.