FLOWS

Flows leads viewers on a journey never before taken, exploring the aquifer beneath the Yucatan Peninsula and investigating the links between a number of beautiful and unique aquatic environments.  The project is a long form environmental documentary film shot over the course of five months in and around Tulum, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

Through land, air, and sea, director Klaus Thymann takes us deep into a submerged cave system, to see unworldly phenomenon like the incredible reflective mirage of an ethereal divide that appears where salt and freshwater meet.

Throughout the film, viewers experience coral and barrier reefs, aquatic animal species, an expansive underwater river system, the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, tropical mangrove forests and open ocean. The natural world is masterfully juxtaposed with the tangible challenges of an ever-growing tourism industry, encroaching construction, unsustainable development and endemic corruption.

Candid and visually stunning, Flows challenges the concept of the ecosystem by considering water as a single unified entity to underline the importance of saving, and protecting, all bodies of water.

Director, Klaus Thymann on Flows:

 “Flows actually came from a feature I did for The Guardian, where I was…showing the connections between the various so-called ecosystems on the Yucatán Peninsula. This brought the idea about to talk of water as one unity and not separate units.”

The idea was shaped by conversations with Jens Ambsdorf of The Lighthouse Foundation, as well as Torsten Thiele of Global Ocean Trust, about how to influence policy holders.

 “The fact that there are very big Marine Protected Areas being announced is great, but, in my view, we need to include the inland underground rivers, too. This is what Flows is about.”

Flows is written and directed by Klaus Thymann, with the participation of key figures in the conservation and protection of the Mexican coast, and features music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.

Produced in association with The Lighthouse Foundation.