Moving the Tides at Silver Hayes
WaterBear Network
A storytelling platform giving imperfect activists the tools to do some good.
Today a small group of WaterBears (aka the GlastonBearys) have made their way to the Glastonbury fields, where we’ll be for the next week for the Hayes Pavilion x WaterBear: Moving the Tides creative collaboration.
We’re still pinching ourselves. As if?!
It’s an incredible feat for a startup just over three years old to now be joining forces with the Silver Hayes team at Glastonbury; a festival that not only brings together the world’s best artists but that has always been at the forefront of music, creativity and environmental consciousness.
WaterBear was created to disrupt the media landscape. To bridge the gap between inspiration and action. To champion community as the antidote to doomerism. To use storytelling to imagine a world of new possibilities.
The stories that exist at the intersection of environmentalism and culture have the power to make people realise that everyone can be a changemaker, they might just not know it yet.
And we know a thing or two about music:you can enjoy some of our favourite films Sonic Forest, Raving Iran, and Broken Wings on our platform (for free - because we believe playing your part should never be behind a paywall).
But to be collaborating with Silver Hayes – especially during a year where its theme is “Optimism is a Political Act” – is a unique opportunity to use storytelling as a vehicle for change at scale.
Together, we’re creating a space built to move the tides through real good stories that create real impact.
And the story behind the space is as powerful as the stories being told within it. Like in 2023, the space will incorporate innovative bio-materials sculptured by Re:right design, the Pavilion’s in-house research and design team. Employing their knowledge and design expertise with biodegradable materials, Re:right have brought the textures, colours, and movements of tidal spaces to life using their renewable ocean-based materials on a backdrop of refined mycelium material from Magical Mushroom Company.
It’s not everyday that you get to dive into cinematic experiences about blue carbon ecosystems on the other side of the world, or the superpowers of seaweed while being surrounded by bioluminescent material.
The Moving the Tides exhibition will serve as a conversation starter:
Experiences like this are only made possible through radical collaboration – not just between Silver Hayes but with the filmmakers and organisations like HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Lonely Whale and Finisterre that WaterBear has partnered with to bring these stories to the world.
Through the power of storytelling and creating a physical space where people can gather, we're building a community that makes people feel more connected to a world they want to be a part of, and hopefully, entertain them into taking action.
Come say hi if you’re in the fields!
Check out our program here and more details on each film below.
Wednesday 18:00 and 20:30 & Friday 14:30
Blue Carbon: Nature’s Hidden Power from Make Waves Ltd and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios
Directed by: Nicolas Brown
Grammy-nominated music producer, DJ, and biologist, Jayda Guy invites us to listen to nature and to the communities fighting to avoid climate catastrophe. Accompanied by a score from the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and featuring Seu Jorge, Blue Carbon is an environmental documentary that combines music and science to help us rediscover nature’s true value.
Thursday 14:30 (following Flame of Hope talk at The Information Stage)
Gaza Surf Club
Directed by: Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine
The Gaza Strip is often in the news for the constant violence and the restrictions its population faces, but this film shows a face of Gaza not many have heard about before. Following some of the young people living in Gaza, this story shows the power of surfing as a form of emancipation and freedom in the land of the “not-free”.
Friday 13:15
Panel Discussion at The Information Stage: WaterBear Presents: Nature’s Anthem: Environmentalism Meets Creativity
Panelists:
Saturday 12:00
+ Out of Step from Finisterre :
Directed by: Tom Bing & Sally McGee
Surfers Tom Bing and Finisterre ambassador Sally McGee embark on a journey with son, Billy, to explore their values and commitment to adventure as education,exploring what it means to have freedom and live an alternative life.
Granny Grommets:
Directed by: Leah Rustomjee
A grommet, in surf lexicon, stands for a surfing newbie. The Granny Grommets, however, are claiming the term for themselves, ignoring the looming threats of sharks and concerns of their worried offspring to embrace the waves, with bodyboards in tow. The group based in Albany in Western Australia was formed in 1999 and take to the waves every Friday morning, rain or shine.
Furthest Point West
Directed by: Israel Peters
An inspirational film which sees London-based Swimming group, Swim Dem Crew, tackle the 34th annual Dakar-Gorée crossing in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Sunday 12:00
Seaweed Stories from Lonely Whale :
Directed by: Jake Sumner
A charming educational film highlighting the wonders of seaweed, and some of the extraordinary stories and characters orbiting this miraculous plant – from the Indigenous Shinnecock Kelp Farmers proving their sovereign right to land, to a Silicon Valley startup creating plastic alternatives from macroalgae, and a scientist in South Korea supporting seaweeds’ sexual reproduction to create new climate resilient strains.
We are so delighted to be involved!! Can't wait for Sunday's screening.