Film collective Sharna Pax (Studios resident Maeve Brennan, Tinne Zenner and Therese Henningsen) present Word for Forest (2018) by Pia Rönicke, Kevin Jerome Everson’s Cardinal (2019), and Die Donau Rauf (1969) by Peter Nestler and Zsóka Nestler for Somerset House’s Earth Day programme; each film attentively observing a different environment – forest, sky, and river.

Word for Forest registers the movement of a seed from the Botanical Gardens in Copenhagen back to its original home in the Mexican Oaxaca mountains; Cardinal observes birdwatchers looking for the state bird of Ohio and Die Donau Rauf traces the layered histories of the Danube. Engaging with the inhabitants of these places – people, plants, birds and boats – the films offer subtle and nuanced encounters with complex histories marked by colonialism.

Part of Somerset House’s year-round commitment to environmental sustainability.