Like a drop of water to a pond, the University of Miami’s message on water preservation has rippled not only around campus, but also the world.
The Knight Center for International Media at UM’s School of Communication has paired with the San Fransisco-based Independent Television Service (ITVS) to produce four films addressing the issue of water as a scarcity.
The film One Water was shown Tuesday at UM’s Cosford Cinema in conjunction with World Water Day on Sunday.
It is part of the 1H20 Campaign 2009 launched by UM. The film was shot in 15 countries and documented the necessity to preserve the earth’s limited water supplies.
Vice Dean, Professor and Executive Director of the Knight Center, Sanjeev Chatterjee, who produced, co-directed and wrote “One Water,” said the film’s goal is to not only spread the word of water as a scarcity everywhere, but to influence the production of media on the issue.
“The film has been shown around the world, and now four other countries have created their own filming of One Water,” Chatterjee said.
These four films also had contributions from the UM’s College of Engineering, Frost School of Music, School of Communication and, most recently, the School of Education.
Co-director of One Water Ali Habashi, who is the Director of the Arnold Center for Confluent Media Study, said students at UM were largely responsible for the online component of the 1H20 Campaign which included audio and video editing.
Habashi said the goal of the films is to spread a message worldwide.
“We want to start a discussion [about the scarcity of water issue] and bring in people from other backgrounds,” Habashi said.