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Back to Our Future - Arid Lands and Ancient Hydro-Technologies

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Back to Our Future - Arid Lands and Ancient Hydro-Technologies

Short Film Prize Winners
Many traditional water-related managing systems have fostered, over the centuries, fundamental harmony between people and nature. The eight winning films of “Back to Our Future” highlight, from different perspectives, how ingenious techniques have sustained livelihoods, social cohesion and cooperation, while shaping traditional waterscapes and preserving ecosystems and biodiversity.
This Short Film Award challenges the common misconception that ancient water management systems are mere prehistoric vestiges. In fact, many traditional practices still offer inspiring and innovative solutions for adapting to climate change and fostering ecological transition, while maintaining a vital relationship with water.
The award is the outcome of a fruitful collaboration between The Global Network of Water Museums and Let’s Talk About Water: a collaboration stemming from WAMU+NET’s pioneering immersive video installation on Ancient Hydro-Technologies (AHTs) organized in Bali (2024) within the 10th World Water Forum, in order to inspire new perspectives on the value of ancient water cultures.

Award ceremony
The Short Film Prize awards ceremony took place at the iconic Cine Brasília, in collaboration with MINA. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer within Brasília’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, this visionary space built to inspire the imagination proved to be the ideal setting to reconnect contemporary water values with ancient water wisdom.
Today, it’s clear that innovative technologies alone cannot solve the complex challenges of climate change and resource depletion in most rural areas worldwide. AHTs deserve much greater attention in regional water management policies, especially in arid regions facing increasing climatic pressures, land abandonment, and migration. Contemporary social and cultural innovations inspired by far-sighted traditional water management models are key to governing the ecological transition in rural areas. At a time when the world is tilting toward division and conflict, the values behind AHTs remind us that cooperation and solidarity in the water sector are essential to building peace. The holistic vision they represent is not just relevant—it is vital to our common future.

Back to Our Future is part of the Annual Film Festival organized by Let’s Talk about Water (LTAW). The competition call was launched at a side-event organized by WAMU+NET for COP16 (2024) in Riyadh, KSA, and then managed by LTAW. The winners were selected by an international jury out of +90 submitted short films.

The final Award Ceremony was organized on the occasion of the 6th International Conference of the Global Network of Water Museums (November 2025) in collaboration with the water company ADASA (Brasília) and the forthcoming MINA, Water Memorial of Brasília: the water museum originally designed by Oscar Niemeyer.

The Winners

Back To Our Future 1

FIRST AWARD

THE LAND SMILES BACK by Thysa Beekman, Kenya.

In Kenya, the Samburu sing to water-men dig wells, women call the rain. After years of drought, they revive ancient hydrotechnologies, making the land smile again with water and hope.

Back To Our Future 2

SECOND AWARD

THE MYSTERY OF QANATS by Ahmad Saraf Yazd, Iran.

The Mystery of Qanats reveals Yazd’s underground lifelines-ancient tunnels carrying water through the desert. Through the voices of diggers and farmers, it celebrates patience, cooperation and ancestral wisdom.

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THIRD AWARD

FORGOTTEN FLOWS OF KAREZ by Mir Abdul Malik, Pakistan.

In Balochistan, Pakistan, the ancient karez system - lifeline of the desert - faces decline from technology and climate change. A community stands at a crossroads, guided by memory and resilience.

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HONORABLE MENTION

LAND OF WELLS by Vanessa Lacaille, Mounir Ayoub, Hamed Kriouane, Tunisia.

In Tunisia’s 'Land of Wells', locals, nomads, and shepherds unite to restore Bir Ettin - a place of life and hospitality. The film retraces four days reviving it for future desert travellers.

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HONORABLE MENTION

GUARDIAN OF THE WELL by Bentley Brown, Tahir Ben Mahamat Zene, Chad.

Amid severe drought in Chad’s Sahara, a man stands by a well, mourning his lost cattle. As the land dries and survival wanes, he reflects on change and the fragile bond between life and water.

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HONORABLE MENTION

EAUQUATION by Amine Ahmidani, Morocco.

In Douiret-Sbâa, Morocco, an ancient system fed by the Aîn Sbaâ spring stores water by night and shares it by day. For centuries, this balance has sustained the oasis and its social harmony.

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HONORABLE MENTION

LIVING WITH WATER by Lin Sihan, China.

The resilient wisdom of the Hani rice terraces: A community transforms its model of land management after witnessing how unsustainable territorial development harmed its local ecosystems.

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HONORABLE MENTION

E-RIAL by Jhonattan Sarmiento, Colombia.

Amid a world of digital ruin, a lone seed resists. Rusted drones stir, a bird drops a leaf, and life awakens - an allegory of how technology, in harmony with nature, can still help heal the planet.