Located next to one of the main rivers in the Netherlands, the inhabitants of the Dutch village Millingen aan de Rijn are exposed to a dynamic force of nature that has a profound impact on their everyday lives. Local perceptions of the river are challenged as outsiders attempt to control the river through a range of environmental policies aimed at preventing the country from flooding. A single river is placed in different realities, anchored in the hearts of many. As the water flows is an experimental ethnographic film that builds on this situation and follows sensory pathways that establish the ways the river is locally perceived and gains meaning.
As the water flows is Dewi Plass’ first ethnographic film and was made as part of the MA program Cultural Anthropology at the Leiden University. The film has been screened at various locations throughout the Netherlands, including at the EYE film institute as part of the Beeld door Beeld film festival in 2015, and Museum Volkenkunde during the ‘Dag van de Antropologie’.
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