River of Grass is a present-day reimagining of environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s celebrated book “The Everglades: River of Grass,” (1947), which forever changed the public’s understanding of the Everglades as not a worthless swamp, but an essential source of freshwater. Her work helped the ecosystem to endure through today—although just barely. In the wake of a hurricane, Douglas visits filmmaker Sasha Wortzel in a dream, catalyzing a prismatic journey across the Everglades with Miccosukee educator and activist Betty Osceola. Interweaving Douglas's writing, personal narration, present-day verité, and archival footage, River of Grass reveals how this country’s origin story haunts and inextricably shapes contemporary American life, while asking how we might weather coming storms better together. 

River of Grass is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist.