Friday, September 19 – Fourth Act Film and Grasshopper Film are proud to announce the U.S. release of RIVER OF GRASS, the luminous ode to Florida’s Everglades in the feature documentary debut from interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker Sasha Wortzel. Fourth Act Film will oversee the U.S. theatrical release, beginning October 17 with a week-long engagement at Miami’s Coral Gables Art Cinema, followed by a week-long run at New York’s DCTV Firehouse Cinema starting October 24, with additional cities to be announced. The Academy Awards-qualifying theatrical release will feature filmmaker Q&As, discussion panels, and other events in each city. Grasshopper Film will handle the North American digital and ancillary rights to the film.
The distribution agreement was negotiated by Mia Bruno, founder of Fourth Act Film, Ryan Krivoshey, founder and president of Grasshopper Film, and producer Danielle Varga on behalf of the film.
RIVER OF GRASS is a present-day reimagining of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ groundbreaking 1947 book, The Everglades: River of Grass, which forever changed the public’s perception of Florida’s wetlands from “worthless swamp” to an essential ecological treasure. In the wake of a hurricane, Douglas visits Wortzel in a dream, catalyzing a prismatic journey across the Everglades with Miccosukee educator and activist Betty Osceola. Interweaving Douglas’ writing, personal narration, stunning present-day verité, and rare archival footage, the film reveals how this country’s origin story haunts and inextricably shapes contemporary American life, while asking how we might weather coming storms better together.
Following its world premiere at True/False earlier this year, the film has screened at major festivals including Hot Docs, where it was awarded the prestigious Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize for International Feature Documentary, had its NYC premiere at Margaret Mead Film Festival, where it won the Mead Audience Award, and garnered a Special Jury Mention at the Sarasota Film Festival. The documentary also screened at DC/DOX, Miami Film Festival, Frameline, Kosovo’s Dokufest, and other festivals. It will next screen at the Woodstock Film Festival on October 15.
Critics hailed Wortzel’s debut as a visionary work: RogerEbert.com called the film “winking and wondrous,” “bewitching” “clarion call to protect Florida’s greatest resource,” POV Magazine commended it as “a vivid love letter to the land,” while The Moveable Fest praised it as “exquisitely crystalline… allowing you to get lost in its beauty without losing sight of how easily broken it can be.” Raphaela Neihausen and Thom Powers showcased the film as their WNYC’s Documentary of the Week, commending it as “a poetic call to action.” Filmmaker Magazine noted that RIVER OF GRASS is “a rare environmental film to succeed both in expressing collective grief about climate change and inspiring activism to adapt and resist further depredations.”
Filmmaker Sasha Wortzel said: “I’m thrilled to be working with Fourth Act Film and Grasshopper Film to bring RIVER OF GRASS to U.S. audiences, particularly at a time where our environment is increasingly under attack, and the Florida Everglades have been thrust into the spotlight as our lead protagonist Betty Osceola and a broad coalition organize to shut down a massive detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” Told through those who today call the region home, the film highlights the Everglades as a site of resistance in the face of the climate emergency, and is an invitation to connect more deeply with our environment, each other, and our collective power.”
“RIVER OF GRASS moves with the poignancy of an unforgettable dream, speaking to us with clarity and urgency, but in a voice that feels intimate and intuitive. The film illuminates a crisis in climate and a commitment of community, not by foisting information upon us but by awakening it within us. We’re thrilled to bring RIVER OF GRASS to theaters, the perfect medium to lose oneself in this extraordinary film,” said Mia Bruno from Fourth Act Film.
“With RIVER OF GRASS, Sasha Wortzel offers a luminous meditation on the fragile beauty of our world and the power of activism to shape its future. We’re delighted to partner with Sasha, Danielle, and the rest of the team to bring this film to audiences,” commented Ryan Krivoshey from Grasshopper Film.
RIVER OF GRASS was directed and written by Sasha Wortzel (shorts How to Carry Water, This is an Address, and Happy Birthday, Marsha!), and produced by Wortzel and Danielle Varga (producer of SEEDS, A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY, LIGHT OF THE SETTING SUN, co-producer of THE STROLL, THE HOTTEST AUGUST, CAMERAPERSON). Director of photography is J. Bennett (YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND, IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL, How to Carry Water), and the film was edited by Rebecca Adorno Dávila (HOMEROOM, THE VOW) and Wortzel, with consulting editors Todd Chandler (In the Absence, I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE, SUGARCANE, MILISUTHANDO) and Maya Daisy Hawke (NAVALNY, SUGARCANE, CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS). Original music is by the acclaimed musician and composer Angélica Negrón.
The film features rare archival footage of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and its subjects include the Indigenous activist Betty Osceola, as well as Houston R. Cypress, Leon Howell, Kina Phillips, Steve Messam, Donna and Deanna Kalil, Heather Barron, Malka Spektor, Timothy Navin, and the Stokes family of crab fishermen.
The documentary is supported by JustFilms | Ford Foundation, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Sandbox Films, Open Society Foundations, Doc Society, Field of Vision, Chicken & Egg Films, The Ellies (Oolite Arts), Anonymous Was A Woman, and others.
About Filmmaker SASHA WORTZEL (Director, Producer, Editor)
Sasha Wortzel is an award-winning filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist. Raised in Southwest Florida and based in New York City, Wortzel specifically attends to sites and stories systematically erased or ignored from these regions’ histories. She is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow in Film-Video. Her films have screened at MoMA DocFortnight, CPH:DOX, True/False, Hot Docs, DOC NYC, BAMcinemaFest, San Francisco International, Wexner Center for the Arts, and Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her expanded cinematic work has been exhibited at the New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, The International Center for Photography, and The Kitchen. RIVER OF GRASS is her first feature documentary. The film received institutional support from Sundance, Ford Foundation, Field of Vision, Doc Society, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and Sandbox Films. Her short films include HOW TO CARRY WATER (2023), an IDA Awards nominee for best short documentary and currently streaming on Criterion Channel; THIS IS AN ADDRESS (2020) distributed by Field of Vision; and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARSHA! (2018; co-director Tourmaline) which won special mention at Outfest. Her artwork is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Studio Museum of Harlem, Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, and Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places. She has been featured in The New York Times, Artforum, and Art in America. More info can be found at here.
About Distributor FOURTH ACT FILM
Fourth Act Film collaborates with filmmakers on impactful and innovative distribution releases, creating campaigns tailored specifically to each project to connect with audiences meaningfully. Recent campaigns include Sundance documentary HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY, The New York Times Critics’ Pick ART FOR EVERYBODY, and BAFTA and Academy Award-winning documentary, NAVALNY. More info can be found at here.
About Distributor GRASSHOPPER FILM
Founded in 2015, Grasshopper Film is a distribution company dedicated to the release of acclaimed and award-winning independent cinema. Recent theatrical releases include Albert Serra’s AFTERNOONS OF SOLITUDE and Jem Cohen’s LITTLE, BIG, AND FAR. Past releases include Kleber Mendonça Filho’s PICTURES OF GHOSTS, Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s NOCTURNES, Oksana Karpovych’s INTERCEPTED, Albert Serra’s PACIFICTION, Alain Gomis’ REWIND AND PLAY, Brett Story’s THE HOTTEST AUGUST, and Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA, among others. More info can be found at here.