River of Grass

River of Grass is an ode to the Florida Everglades past and present, told through the prescient writings of the late environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Miccosukee educator Betty Osceola, and those who today call the region home. In the wake of a hurricane that has devastated her home, the film’s narrator (director Wortzel) turns to Douglas's groundbreaking book "The Everglades: River of Grass" (1947) to make sense of history, and she embarks on a deep listening walk with Osceola in order to seek a way forward. Interweaving passages from Douglas's book, personal narration, present-day verité, archival, and otherworldly landscapes, River of Grass reveals how this country’s origin story haunts and inextricably shapes contemporary American life, while asking how we might weather coming storms better together.