This event is free and suitable for audiences of all ages. The talk and screening will last 25 minutes – after the screening, we’d love to hear your thoughts about our film and the ‘human rights’ of rivers.
Join University of Plymouth researchers Kayla Parker and Jason Lowther and the Barbican Theatre’s Sally Burne in the immersive dome to hear about the 360 film we’ve made with children from Prince Rock Primary School and the film-maker Stuart Moore over the last couple of days. Learn about why it’s important for us to recognise ‘river rights’ so we can protect Plymouth’s eastern waterway from harm – and enjoy the 360 film!
Working together, we’ve co-created a film using poetry, creative image-making and 360 video, asking the River Plym what it wants to say about habitat destruction and its waters being polluted with waste discharge and plastic and contaminated with chemicals. The children interpreted what the water said – and why it’s important for us to feel part of nature – by composing poems and making drawings, which are animated in the immersive dome to the children’s voices. The 360 film also shows the children on location at the waterside, listening to the river and paying attention to the natural world.
Credits
This screening event is part of The Human Rights of the River Plym project for the Being Human Festival that brings together Jason’s research expertise in the legal aspects of the ‘rights of nature’ and Kayla’s film-making research about place and is a collaboration with Sally Burne at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth supported by University of Plymouth, Real Ideas and Sundog Media.
It is part of the Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, taking place 6–15 November 2025. Being Human is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.
Links
· University of Plymouth: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk
· Barbican Theatre, Plymouth: https://barbicantheatre.co.uk
· Real Ideas: https://realideas.org/
· Sundog Media: https://sundogmedia.co.uk
· Being Human Festival: https://www.beinghumanfestival.org
· School of Advanced Study, University of London: https://www.sas.ac.uk
· Arts and Humanities Research Council: https://www.ukri.org/councils/ahrc/
· British Academy: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
