A Film by Sasha Wortzel

An ode to the Florida Everglades, told through the prescient writings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and those who today call the region home. 


“winking and wondrous…bewitching…this isn’t a passive narrative”

Synopsis

www.rogerebert.com

RIVER OF GRASS is a present-day reimagining of environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s celebrated book, “The Everglades: River of Grass,” (1947), which forever changed the public’s understanding of the area from worthless swamps to an essential source of freshwater, enabling the ecosystem to endure, just barely, today. In the wake of a hurricane, Douglas visits filmmaker Sasha Wortzel in a dream, catalyzing a prismatic journey across the Everglades with Miccosukee educator and activist Betty Osceola. Interweaving Douglas's writing, personal narration, present-day verité, and archival footage, 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.

CREATIVE TEAM

Upcoming screenings

Queer Expression
St. Pete, FL

Virtual Q&A with Sasha Wortzel

TUESday JUNE 30

Rosendale Theatre
Rosendale, NY

Q&A with Director Sasha Wortzel

THURSday JULY 9

Past screenings

True/False Film Fest

Columbia, MO

February 27, 2025

Miami Film Festival

Miami, FL

April 09, 2025

Sarasota Film Festival

Sarasota, FL

April 12, 2025

Hot Docs

Toronto, CA

April 28, 2025

Margaret Mead Film Festival

New York, NY

May 04, 2025

Cinéspeak Under the Stars

Philadelphia, PA

May 30, 2025

DC/DOX

Washington DC

June 14, 2025

Bellwether Series, Amherst Cinema

Amherst, MA

August 14, 2025

Cornell Cinema

Ithaca, NY

October 2, 2025

FRAMELINE

Oakland, CA

June 22, 2025

Dokufest

Prizen, Kosovo

August 03, 2025

Climate Film Festival

New York, NY

September 20, 2025

Tallahassee Film Festival

Tallahassee, FL

September 27, 2025

Refocus Film Festival

Iowa City, IA

October 10-12, 2025

Woodstock Film Festival

Woodstock, NY

October 15, 2025

Coral Gables Art Cinema

Miami, FL

October 17 - 23, 2025

DCTV FIREHOUSE Cinema

New York, NY

October 24 - 30, 2025

Unorthodocs

Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

November 08, 2025

TAURON American Film Festival

Wroclaw, Poland

November 06-08, 2025

Guelph Film Festival

Guelph, ON

November 07, 2025

Subtropic Film Festival

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL

November 08, 2025

Glimmerglass Film Days

Cooperstown, NY

November 15, 2025

BIG ARTS

Sanibel Island, Florida

November 17, 2025

Rollins College

Winter Park, Florida

January 22, 2026

Key Biscayne Film Festival

Key Biscayne, Florida

January 30, 2026

Ely Film Festival

Ely, Minnesota

March 13, 2026

Wellesley College

Wellesley, MA

April 9, 2026

Lyric Theatre

Stuart, FL

May 6, 2026

Upstate Films

Rhinebeck, NY

May 28, 2026

SPACE

Portland, Maine

February 5, 2026

Howland Cultural Center

Beacon, NY

March 19, 2026

Sanctuary for Independent Media

Troy, NY

April 22, 2026

Cinema Paradiso

Hollywood, FL

May 17, 2026

Norfolk Library

Norfolk, Connecticut

February 6, 2026

ROWHOUSE Hollywood Theatre

Pittsburgh, PA

March 25, 2026

O Cinema

Miami Beach, FL

May 2, 2026

Vidiots

Los Angeles, CA

May 19, 2026

Press                

  • ROGEREBERT.COM

    Robert Daniels

    “Wortzel’s film is a clarion call to protect Florida’s greatest resource.”

  • THE MOVEABLE FEST

    Steven Saito

    "A variety of perspectives add up to something as exquisitely crystalline, allowing you to get lost in its beauty without losing sight of how easily broken it can be."

  • FILMAKER MAGAZINE

    Patricia Aufderheide

    "A rare environmental film to succeed both in expressing collective grief about climate change and inspiring activism to adapt and resist further depradations."

  • SCREEN SLATE

    Saffron Maeve

    "affectionately cluttered, with the community’s competing methodologies given the latitude to freely coexist."

  • POV MAGAZINE

    Pat Mullen

    “…a vivid love letter to the land and a call for its protection.”

  • FILMMAKER MAGZINE

    Lauren Wissot

    “…in Wortzel’s cinematic Everglades, humans are merely one fleeting creature in a far more complex ecosystem, a world where birds, reptiles, plants and water are there to show us the care-taking way.”

  • WNYC DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEEK

    Raphaela Neihausen and Thom Powers

    “…a poetic call to action.”

  • MOVIEJAWN

    Zakiyyah Madyun

    “A truly creative feat of environmental storytelling, River of Grass is a quiet marvel that listens more than it speaks, and makes all the bigger impact for it.”

  • THE ARTS STL

    Sarah Boslaugh

    “Wortzel builds her case primarily through the stories of individuals who share their personal relationships with the region, paired with stunning cinematography."

  • VOX MAGAZINE

    Tre Kent

    “a mosaic of past and present…capturing its [the Everglades] wonder and reassuring the audience that there is still much beauty to save."

  • AUTOSTRADDLE

    Juan Barquin

    “…a necessary document about the Everglades at this point in time and a personal reflection on what it means to connect with other communities for the greater good..”

HOST A SCREENING

Want to host a screening in your cinema, college, or community venue? Please complete the form and a member of our film team will reply.

Add the film to your library catalogue