Watch the Trailer
The 25-minute immersive documentary tells the story of the island communities of Walande, Ngongosila, and Kwai in the southwestern Pacific, as they confront the difficult questions of whether and how to relocate their homes and lives to the mainland because of devastating tides and rising sea levels.
Participants wear a headset and move between physical and virtual worlds. By combining physical touch, virtual and real environments, spatial audio, and documentary storytelling, Solwata creates a deeply personal encounter with this global challenge.
Narrated and executive produced by Academy Award–nominated actor and human rights advocate Mark Ruffalo, created by NowHere Media, and co-produced by Human Rights Watch and Agog, Solwata builds on Human Rights Watch’s research into climate displacement. It uses immersive media to bring audiences to the frontlines of climate change to better understand what’s at stake.
Why Immersive Storytelling
Get Closer Than a Screen Allows
Most people will never travel to Solomon Islands. Immersive storytelling brings audiences closer to the people living this reality, offering a felt sense of the human rights consequences of climate change. Created in consultation with the Solwata people, the experience offers proximity to resilience and identity: when a conch shell passes from someone’s story into your own hands, or you fish underwater in 360°, you start to understand how inseparable this community’s sense of self is from this particular stretch of ocean and land. It’s what immersive media makes possible.
Premiere
Venice Immersive Official Selection
Solwata will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival (September 2–12, 2026) as one of the selections at Venice Immersive.
Partners
Solwata was created by NowHere Media and co-produced by Human Rights Watch and Agog. It was produced in consultation with members of Walande, Ngongosila, and Kwai communities, and we thank them for their partnership in bringing their urgent stories to a global audience.
Human Rights Watch is an independent organization that investigates and reports on human rights abuses worldwide, working to hold governments and institutions accountable.
NowHere Media is a Berlin-based immersive studio working at the intersection of storytelling and social impact.
Agog: The Immersive Media Institute is a philanthropic organization supporting the use of immersive media to build empathy and drive real-world action.