Each year, when the dry season reaches its peak in Southern Ethiopia, the Borana herders gather with their livestock around their ancient wells.

Huge hand-excavated craters, known as “singing wells”, allow them to survive during the long annual droughts. Here, every day, the young shepherds form human chains, allowing them to reach the depths of the well and bring up the water. Their work is accompanied by a song which seems to draw the great herds as they slowly come near, after days of walking in a dry land.

The documentary follows the Borana life throughout the drought until the long-awaited rain comes.

Through interaction with several characters, the film introduces us to a unique water management system that allows the Borana shepherds to manage the small quantity of available water as the property and right of everyone.

Nobody can be denied to access water, neither the herders of an enemy tribe in need.

While all around the world the access to drinkable water is still not considered a fundamental human right, the Borana deserve a special attention for the extraordinary way in which they guarantee general and indiscriminate access to water in one of the driest inhabited regions on earth.

Paolo Barberi, Ravenna 1968, Anthropologist and filmmaker, teaches cultural anthropology at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He founded in 2004 the Esplorare la Metropoli Researchers and Filmmakers Association together with Riccardo Russo, co director with him of the documentary film The Well, Water voices from Ethiopia.

Filmography

2009 Città di mezzo (In Beetween City) -  Special Award at ROME DOCSCIENT.
2011 The Well - Water voices from Ethiopia.

Riccardo Russo, 1974, is an Italian independent filmmaker working in the field of social documentary production.
With a PhD in Human Geography and a specialization in Audiovisuals for Human Rights, he founded in 2004 the Esplorare la Metropoli Researchers and Filmmakers Association together with Paolo Barberi, co director with him of the documentary film The Well, Water voices from Ethiopia. During the last years he has released several publications and documentary films on socio-environmental themes and human rights, in Europe, South America, Africa and Oceania.

Filmography

2002 L’altra Faccia di eGoli (The other face of Egoli) - AUDIENCE PRICE, ROMA DOCFEST 2003 Lipompong - CHATWIN PRIZE 2003.
2006 L’altro Lazio
2007 La preghiera del minatore di Opale (Opal Miner's Prayer) – MIGRANT MEMORY PRIZE 2011 Piazza Tiburtino Terzo (Tiburtino Terzo Square).
2011 The Well - Water voices from Ethiopia.