Metrograph

Water—its history, its central role in humankind’s history, and the history of how humans have used and abused it—is at the center of Baichwal and Burtynsky’s curiously serene, visually compelling documentary, which travels to 10 different countries around the world, from the Xiluodu Dam on China’s Jinsha River to the dried-up delta of the Colorado River to the Buriganga River in Bangladesh, which is both threatened by industrial contamination and the region’s lifeblood, in order to compare and contrast how different cultures utilize the waterways within their borders. Making frequent use of breathtaking aerial perspectives that prove our indelible attachment to the precious natural resource… as well as our paradoxical tendency to take little trouble to ensure it stays usable for purposes of pleasure or even basic survival.

Introduction by the filmmakers and ICP's creative director David Campany on Saturday, June 21st