On a remote Indonesian island, a female-led underwater cave diving team joins forces with local scientists on an expedition to locate a desperately needed drinking water source for indigenous villages, and to protect their ancestral waters from encroaching threats of mining and climate change.
SYNOPSIS
The freshwater aquifer beneath the rural Indonesian island of Pulau Muna is vast and pristine, yet inhabitants are desperate for drinkable water. With no infrastructure to access this precious resource and no desalination plant, communities rely on shipped-in bottled water for daily use. The only way to determine how much water flows beneath the ground, and how to responsibly access it, is to physically go inside to gather data. Community leaders have asked a team of expert underwater cave explorers to go where the scientists cannot reach, and no human has ever been.
In October 2024, a female-led team of ten of the world’s most elite cave divers join forces with Indonesian dry caving specialists, scientists from the Gadja Mada University, and local government leaders on a pioneering expedition to explore the underwater labyrinth beneath Pulau Muna.
In addition to water scarcity, the people of Pulau Muna also face a race against- the-clock to intercept encroaching mining companies. Mass extraction of groundwater by cement mining and water bottling companies have already devastated a large portion of Indonesia’s limestone archipelagos, but the aquifer on Pulau Muna has not yet been destroyed. Government leaders are relying on the explorers’ surveys to certify the aquifer as a protected GeoPark before it is too late.
Emphasizing hope, this feature-length adventure doc brings audiences into the veins of one of the last uncharted places on the planet to find scalable climate solutions and prove how water interconnects all of us.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Ana Overgaard
Ana has worked in film and television for ten years, and is a cave diver herself. As a long time Assistant Director for international adventure shows like Survivor, The Challenge USA, and Deal or No Deal Island, she is accustomed to leading high-end productions in extremely remote locations with international teams.
Ana got her start as a producer/editor at Wide Eye Productions, an Emmy Award winning production house in Idaho specializing in nature documentaries for public broadcast. She has worked as a producer on various unscripted series for Disney +, Netflix, and Roku. Ana is committed to capturing striking visual stories about compelling people and wild places as a means to shift environmental mindsets and inspire positive interactions with nature.
Co-Producer Trish Dalton
Trish Dalton is an award winning independent director/producer. With a focus on social and environmental issues and the arts, several of her documentaries have been used as tools for change. Trish was named one of People magazine’s ten “Women Changing the World in 2020” for directing the HBO Sports documentary STUDENT ATHLETE and encouraging legislative change at the federal and state level to protect college athlete’s rights.
Her film credits include STUDENT ATHLETE, ELECTION YEAR, BORDERING ON TREASON, SOUTHMOST U.S.A., ONE NIGHT STAND, and KERAS & MANIS. Her documentaries have broadcast on PBS, HBO and Ovation after screening at dozens of film festivals, including: SXSW, Miami, Boston Independent, Denver Starz, Nashville, True/False, DOC NYC, Full Frame, and Tribeca.
PROMOTE THIS PROJECT
Put a donation widget on your site. Click here for code.
ABOUT YOUR DONATION
Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
Your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and a confirmation of your donation will be sent via email. WMM will send you an acknowledgement letter in the mail to the address listed for tax purposes.