Everglades Film a Win for Nature 

A newly released film about the Everglades — “River of Grass” — describes and encourages a bond with nature. The documentary feature film made its Florida debut in April at the Miami Film Festival, then the Sarasota Film Festival. From Florida, it heads north toward audiences in New York City and Canada. 

Filmmaker Sasha Wortzel, who directed, produced, and edited the documentary, describes the film as a reimagining of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s book River of Grass, published in 1947. 

Douglas comes to the filmmaker in a dream following a harrowing hurricane. From there, Wortzel transports the audience through the Everglades, past and present— letting the audience decide the future.

“I was really moved by Marjory,” Wortzel said. “When I began this project, it began as a place of grief and sadness,” Wortzel said.

At the time, during 2017, Southwest Florida was experiencing one of the most toxic algae blooms in history. 

Wortzel began making the film with her partner and director of photography Jess Bennett at her side, exploring the Everglades, reading Douglas’s book, and joining prayer walks with Betty Osceola that year. 

“My aunt [Osceola] is part of this film, so it’s really an honor for me. She’s very passionate about the environment and saving it. She does everything she can,” said Lucas Osceola, assistant chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, as he welcomed moviegoers. 

Wortzel described a turning point in filmmaking where she began to experience hope. 

“That’s what a win looks like,” Wortzel said during the panel discussion following the screening at the Miami Film Festival on April 9.

“A win is leaning into our collective power and having each other. And, having each other is really a lot,” Wortzel added.

Co-producer Ali Codina described the power of prayer walks and spending time in nature. 

“Walking with nature, she’s healing us so that we will heal her,” Codina said. 

“The more time we spend there, the more we take care of her, and the more she’s taking care of us. That circle of healing is very much the message of this film,” Codina said. 

These ideas echo Osceola, a member of the Panther Clan, teacher, and environmental advocate who appears in the film riding her trike, saying nature will always win. The question is, will we win with her? Osceola leaves the audience pondering.

She is an airboat captain and points out that the River of Grass is a name for the Everglades that comes from the Miccosukee and Seminole people’s native language, describing the area where they live.

Rev. Houston Cypress of the Otter Clan of the Miccosukee Tribe and of Love the Everglades Movement, a nonprofit combining art, environmental stewardship, and community, served as a consultant for the film. He also starred in it, appearing on a bicycle riding through the Everglades at night, viewing the stars. 

“Growing up there, it’s the power of art to see the world in a new way, and I think that’s what you’ve accomplished here, helping us to see the world in a new way,” said Cypress to the filmmakers.

The film's audience included many prayer walkers and people close to the film who reflected on the documentary following the screening. 

Monica Berra, the film’s archival producer, found and contributed much of the footage with Douglas, as well as other historical footage in the film.

Berra encouraged people to experience the Everglades throughout the seasons, wet and dry, mosquitoes and all, following the film. 

Berra reflected back on a comment from Everglades National Park Ranger Leon Howell, who has since retired from the National Park Service. 

“‘Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, they scream at you, but the Everglades, they whisper,’” she recalled Howell saying. 

Douglas is quoted in the film and describes the Everglades in the plural, nonbinary, “they, they, they,” noted Cypress. 

Develop this relationship with the environment like it's a member of your family, encouraged Berra. “Get to know the Everglades,” said Berra.