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For Commissioners · Co-Producers · Impact Funders · Nations

The greenlight package

One chapter is complete and proof. Three more are staged, researched, and ready to move. Everything below is the case for extending Rivers of Life from a single film into a durable, ownable series on the defining ecological-legal story of the century.

"Greenlight Chapters II–IV: three feature-length productions that extend a proven format from the completed Magpie chapter into a continental, then global, movement."

The Chapter Slate

What we shoot next, and why

Each chapter is chosen to extend the map without repeating the last film — Canadian continuity first, then the legal origin story, then an open international chapter selected by access and co-production geography.

I

The Magpie River · Muteshekau-Shipu

Québec, Canada

First river in Canada granted legal personhood (2021). Proves the series can hold philosophy and adventure in the same frame — proof of tone, format, and the caravan engine.

Complete · Proof
II

The Wabigoon River

Ontario, Canada

Mercury poisoning at Grassy Narrows — a story of recognition still owed, not yet achieved. The caravan arrives to listen and witness, not to save. Research complete; production seeking finance.

Ready · Immediate
III

Whanganui · Te Awa Tupua

Aotearoa New Zealand

The first river on Earth recognized as a living legal person (2017), after a 140-year struggle by the Whanganui iwi. Magpie is a tributary of Whanganui's precedent — filming here makes the series global, not Canadian.

Slated · Relationship Development
IV

Open International — Partner-Led Selection

Ganga & Yamuna (India) · Atrato (Colombia) · Klamath (USA)

Three strong candidates; one locks based on access, timing, and co-production geography. Ganga & Yamuna bring spiritual weight and a diaspora bridge; Atrato brings Afro-Colombian/Indigenous guardianship and LatAm reach; Klamath brings dam-removal hope and US public-media fit.

Open · Candidate Selection
The Full Package

Every document, on brand

The complete greenlight suite — download individually or take the full bundle. All written and designed to match this site.

Competitive Position

The gap this fills

There are films about single rivers, and series about the planet. There is not yet a returning, human-scale series that follows legal personhood river by river, with a caravan as the narrative engine and Two-Eyed Seeing as method. That gap is the IP.

My Octopus Teacher — intimacy with the non-human Planet Earth — craft Nomadland / Into the Wild — road spirit Malick — poetic register Fire of Love / Free Solo — adventure + soul
Named Honestly

What we watch for

The Ask

Production finance and co-production for Chapters II–IV

Broadcast and streamer commission interest, impact and foundation partners, and Indigenous nation and guardian relationships for each river. Full package and footage access available under conversation.

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