Ruins of the River

In the heart of the Dombe plain, surrounded by mountains and forests, lives Djuzo, the guardian spirit of the rivers, who rules the waters and their cycles. In March 2019, the tropical cyclone Idai, hit central Mozambique and reached the small town of Dombe. Hundreds of people died and the majority saw their homes and part of their lives washed away by the water.

 

Zichau, the community leader, the old Queen, the young Joana, mother of three children and Hélia the nutritionist from the NGO Helpo are the four Dombe residents who had their lives submerged after the river returned to its former land. But who is Djuzo, and why such a punishment? Ruins of the River is a poem that pays homage to the lives of this enchanted place, where the trees talk to the people and the river echoes the ancient siren song. The film illustrates the extraordinary contemporaneity of traditional societies often seen as archaic, but that have always defended concepts that today some of the most progressive voices in science and philosophy have taken up again, such as the urgency of dialoguing with all forms of life that surround us in order to restore balance in the planet earth.