Project Detail

Rave On for the Avon

Synopsis

When the water company and local authorities fail the community, the wild swimmers of Bristol fight back through activism, swimming like a mermaid and getting married.
Do humans have the right to nature? In this tender film, director Charlotte Sawyer tells a story of a community of wild swimmers in Bristol (UK) affected by raw sewage pollution of the river Avon. England is one of the only two countries in the world to have a fully privatised water and sewage disposal system, and with only 14% of English rivers in good ecological health, the mission to keep the rivers clean is not going well.
In a series of moving, exciting and thought-provoking scenes, the swimmers create a stunning, light-hearted yet fascinating tapestry, probing how activism starts from the grassroots, and carries a profound universal lesson for all of us. There’s a wedding, drum’n’bass, an inflatable turd, and a whole lot of cheesecake in this poignant reflection on people’s innovative battles for the natural world they cherish.

Details

Year
2024
Type of project
Features
Running time
86 min
Director
Charlotte Sawyer 1st Feature
Producer
Sonia Wargacka
Co-Producer
Aggie Nyagari-Salt
Executive Producer
Mel Rodrigues
Director of Photography
Charlotte Sawyer

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Director: David Borenstein (director), Pavel Talankin (co-director)

Year: 2025

A Russian teacher secretly documents his small town school's transformation into a war recruitment center during the Ukraine invasion, revealing the ethical dilemmas educators face amid propaganda and militarization. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection CPH DOX 2025 Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2025 BAFTA Awards 2026 - Winner - Best Documentary Academy Awards 2026 - Winner - Best Documentary Feature

A Few Moments of Happiness (Quelques instants de bonheur) A Few Moments of Happiness (Quelques instants de bonheur)

Director: Shaden Safieddine Tazi

Year: 2026

A young Lebanese filmmaker in Paris watches Lebanon's war unfold on her phone from bed. In a state of paralysis, barely able to get out of bed, she calls her father everyday and begins recording her digital life. Using screen recordings, family voices, and silences, the film intimately portrays a generation witnessing their homeland's destruction remotely. Official Selection Venice International Film Festival 2026 - World premiere

Test Track (Tesztpálya) Test Track (Tesztpálya)

Director: Lydia Cornett

Year: 2026

At dawn in Western Hungary, 14-year-old Hunor and his family use greyhounds to clear wildlife from ZalaZONE, a cutting-edge autonomous vehicle test track. Their traditional methods serve an increasingly militarized future. Official Selection Venice International Film Festival 2026 - World premiere