Christian Aid documentary ‘Big River Rising’ nominated for major green award

The internationally acclaimed Sheffield Doc Festival has nominated Big River Rising, an interactive documentary produced by Christian Aid, for a Green Award, its category to honour documentaries addressing major environmental challenges.

The web-documentary, which will screen at the festival from 12- 16 June 2013, was shot in the Philippines during the dramatic August 2012 monsoon deluge, and demonstrates the importance of science in helping slum dwellers in Manila cope with flooding that claims innocent lives every year.

The severe monsoon weather caused flooding throughout the Manila metropolis and forced more than 700,000 people to evacuate. Big River Rising uses a combination of photography, text, graphics, audio and video, to tell the story of a poor riverside community forced to flee their shantytown homes.

The web-doc, also shortlisted for a One World Media Award this year, follows mother-of-five Belen de Guzman, a trained river monitor, as she helps coordinate the slum’s evacuation while her own home disappears beneath the floodwaters.

It explores how scientists are working with Christian Aid and local partner organisations to train poor communities, like Belen’s, to understand their geological environment, the hazards they face and their local chaotic weather systems. They are encouraged to develop life-saving early warning systems and community evacuation plans, and to lobby the Filipino government for lasting solutions.

Emma Wigley, co-producer and multimedia officer at Christian Aid said: "It was a surprise and pleasure to be invited to show Big River Rising at the Sheffield Doc Festival and to be nominated for their Green Award. Online documentaries provide a great opportunity for organisations with small budgets, like Christian Aid, to communicate and explore important but complex subjects.

"The work our partners are doing in the Philippines, combining science with disaster resilience, is truly inspiring and an innovative approach to development. We hope we have been able to communicate that, as well as giving a voice to the communities we serve."

Big River Rising was made with the help of the Manila Observatory, Marine Science Institute, National Institute of Geological Sciences, and Storyplanet, a multimedia publishing platform, which hosted the web-doc free of charge. It was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID).

Funding from UKAid helps support Christian Aid partnerships such as those in the Philippines with scientists, and groups representing the urban poor. You can watch Big River Rising via Christian Aid’s website: www.christianaid.org.uk/whatwedo/in-focus/big-river-rising/big-river-rising.aspx