Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 9 hours ago
WATER FOR LIFE / AGUA ES VIDA
A film by Will Parrinello
Available from educational use Bullfrog Films: bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/wfl.html
WATER FOR LIFE tells the story of three extraordinary individuals: Berta Cáceres, a leader of the Lenca people in Honduras; Francisco Pineda, a subsistence farmer in El Salvador; and Alberto Curamil, an Indigenous Mapuche leader in Chile, all of whom refused to let government-supported industry and transnational corporations take their water and redirect it to mining, hydroelectric projects or large-scale agriculture. Despite reassurances from companies and the authorities, they knew what lay ahead: contaminated water, environmental devastation, and the destruction of their communities.
It is a story of courage and determination, betrayal and corruption, death threats and murder, and of unexpected victories in the countryside and in the courts. It is a story that asks how economic development can grow in harmony with environmental protections. Above all, WATER FOR LIFE illuminates a growing recognition of Indigenous rights and a rising demand for corporate responsibility and environmental justice that’s being seen around the world. It is a story that begins and ends with water.
WATER FOR LIFE / AGUA ES VIDA
A film by Will Parrinello
Available from educational use Bullfrog Films: bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/wfl.html
WATER FOR LIFE tells the story of three extraordinary individuals: Berta Cáceres, a leader of the Lenca people in Honduras; Francisco Pineda, a subsistence farmer in El Salvador; and Alberto Curamil, an Indigenous Mapuche leader in Chile, all of whom refused to let government-supported industry and transnational corporations take their water and redirect it to mining, hydroelectric projects or large-scale agriculture. Despite reassurances from companies and the authorities, they knew what lay ahead: contaminated water, environmental devastation, and the destruction of their communities.
It is a story of courage and determination, betrayal and corruption, death threats and murder, and of unexpected victories in the countryside and in the courts. It is a story that asks how economic development can grow in harmony with environmental protections. Above all, WATER FOR LIFE illuminates a growing recognition of Indigenous rights and a rising demand for corporate responsibility and environmental justice that’s being seen around the world. It is a story that begins and ends with water.
