Docs Equinox Celebrates Earth Day with Advocate Maya van Rossum

In the lead up to Earth Day this year, Hamptons Doc Fest is presenting a special Docs Equinox program focused on the environment, specifically one of our most important resources — water. Along with a trio of documentary films demonstrating our aquifer’s tenuous situation, the three-day weekend, from April 14–16, is bringing together five local environmental nonprofits to discuss, inform and educate event-goers about our tap water and where it originates.

Before the first night’s screening, Docs Equinox kicks off the weekend with a cocktail reception at Southampton Arts Center (25 Jobs Lane) on Friday evening, followed by a special keynote address by Maya van Rossum. An author and environmental advocate, Rossum is doing important work with state legislators around the country to make clean air, pure water and a healthy environment a constitutional right.

“I’ve been advancing my green amendment message for a decade now,” Rossum says, explaining how she found her way to presenting a keynote speech at Docs Equinox with no connection to the Hamptons or any of the films being screened.

“We successfully secured a constitutional green amendment in the state of New York that went into effect last year,” she continues, pointing out how her work recognizing that “all the people have a right to clean water and air, and a healthful environment,” and making it a constitutional right, can be an absolute game changer for advocates and litigators trying to protect our environment.

The second edition of her book, The Green Amendment, was just published in November of last year.

“I guess there was sort of a coming together of different things happening that made the folks involved with the festival interested in having a talk about the power and importance of having green amendment protections and how this came to be in New York, and why it’s important,” Rossum adds.

“It puts these environmental rights on legal par with other fundamental rights that we hold dear, things like the right to free speech and freedom of religion — we all know how powerfully they’re protected …” Rossum continues, offering a preview of what audiences can expect from her keynote speech on Friday. “It’s just recognizing that there are certain human rights, certain civil and political rights — inalienable rights — that we, by virtue of the fact that we are people here on this earth, are entitled to …”

All three Docs Equinox films will screen in-person, including Invisible Hand on Friday, April 14, The Grab on Saturday, April 15, and Patrick and the Whale on Sunday, April 16. The Friday and Saturday screenings will begin with a cocktail reception in a “Water Central” information hub area with the five local environmental groups, and all three will be followed by Zoom Q&As with the filmmakers.

Docs Equinox Films

Screening at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Invisible Hand, produced by award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers), takes viewers behind the curtain of the global economy where so-called “rights of nature” becomes capitalism’s one true opponent. As director Melissa Troutman explains, “When I started reporting about fracking, I naively assumed that if pollution occurred it would be dealt with — especially water contamination because, after all, we drink the stuff. I thought the problem was that our elected public officials simply didn’t know about it.” Invisible Hand demonstrates how truly wrong she was. Troutman and co-director Joshua Pribanic will participate in the Zoom Q&A after the film.

On Saturday at 7 p.m. audiences will watch The Grab, a gripping doc that traces an invisible conspiracy to control the world’s water. This investigative thriller offers insight into the truth behind the colonization of water. Watch journalist Nathan Halverson of the Center for Investigative Reporting and his team track leaked documents revealing how powerful entities around the world are trying to gain control of food and water outside their borders. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and producer/reporter Nate Halverson will take part in the Zoom Q&A.

The final screening of Docs Equinox weekend, Patrick and the Whale, is on Sunday at 2 p.m. The film follows cinematographer Patrick Dykstra who makes a unique connection with a female sperm whale he named “Delores.” He felt an overwhelming sense that she was genuinely trying to communicate and he works to show viewers the hidden world of her species. Dykstra and director Mark Fletcher will join viewers in the Zoom Q&A after the film.

Tickets are available now for individual screenings and events during this very special weekend of important documentary films.

Purchase tickets for each day at Southampton Arts Center, southamptonartscenter.org, or Hamptons Doc Fest, hamptonsdocfest.com.