Rising Waters, Raising Rights: Watch Party Host Guide
Thank you so much for your interest in becoming a Watch Party Host for Rising Waters, Raising Rights: Human Rights Through the Lens of Water! This guide will walk you through what to expect, the role of a host, and the options available to tailor your own screening.
This decentralised film program uses water as a resource, metaphor, and lived environment to explore human rights stories across Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia (Maphilindo), and the wider Asia-Pacific. Through themes of climate vulnerability, displacement, youth, labour and livelihood, and community resistance, the program invites audiences to reflect on how water connects us all.
Curated with care by Cinemata's community curators-in-residence, Eunice Helera (Philippines) and Nadira Ilana (Borneo–Malaysia), this modular film program is available for free online from 10–23 December 2025. It features 26 internationally acclaimed short films, documentaries, and music videos created by community and professional filmmakers committed to human rights storytelling across the region. Decentralised Watch Parties are hosted voluntarily by film communities, organisations, and individuals like you.
1. Why host a Cinemata Watch Party?
Hosting a Watch Party brings people together to spark conversations, deepen understanding, and reflect on human rights issues that shape the Asia Pacific. Our hope is that you'll create an intimate, thoughtful space for your community, circle and friends to connect with these stories.
☑ Select the theme that resonates most with your community:
As a host, you may choose from our curated subcategories or select specific films that resonate with your community. Click on the subcategory to visit each playlist:
- Sinking Grounds — climate vulnerability, flooding, displacement, and the everyday survival of communities living at the edge of ecological collapse.
- Tides of Silence — queer and trans becoming, psychological violence, longing, myth, and the mermaid as a symbol of fluid identity.
- Fisherfolk & Frontlines — coastal labor, maritime rights, ancestral waters, and the precarity of communities whose lives depend on the sea.
- Waves of Belonging — social exclusion, bullying, youth, and identity
- Drifting States — home, fluid borders, statelessness, and migration
Watch Party Hosts, you are welcome to expand your event to include workshops, masterclasses, or community activities. If you feel called to do so, you may coordinate with our Cinemata team so we can assess feasibility and provide support where possible.
Or, gather your friends and family, have a cozy movie date, and share your experience with us (if you like). Email or tag us on our social media. We would love to hear how this program resonated with you!
SINKING GROUNDS: Seven films on Climate, Flood, and Survival
These films expose how capitalism, poverty, and resource extraction drive environmental collapse, including floods, droughts, and endangered coastlines. They reveal the tension between destructive "development" and communities pushed into survival by hunger, displacement, and ecological crisis.
TIDES OF SILENCE: Five Films on Queer Currents & Mermaid Longings
Films exploring queer yearning, grief, and the search for home, love, and justice. Water flows through these stories as both giver and taker of life, holding hope and devastation in the same quiet tide.
FISHERFOLK & FRONTLINES: Five Films on Labor and Livelihood at Risk
Water serves as both workplace and battleground in these films documenting fishing communities facing foreign claims, environmental destruction, and displacement. These stories reveal how ordinary people resist and endure as they fight to protect the waters that sustain their livelihoods.
WAVES OF BELONGING: Five Films on Social exclusion, youth, identity
Water is a source of recreation and livelihoods, it shapes out interactions. Tracing the lives of young people navigating selfhood, bullying and the search for belonging, these stories reveal how youth carve out space for themselves even when the world around them pushes them to the edges.
DRIFTING STATES: Five Films on Home, Fluid Borders and Migration
Borders are drawn by red tape and "home" is where you make it - this program follows undocumented and refugee youths navigating education, discrimination and uncertain futures. These stories reveal the fragility of belonging and the courage required to rebuild a life in motion.
2. Technical Access & Film Availability
All films will be available on Cinemata.org from December 10–23, 2025.
Before Your Screening: Check Your Connection
For smooth playback—especially at 1080p—test your internet speed before hosting a watch party or screening. Here's how:
Quick Speed Test
Visit Speedtest.net and click "Go." Your download speed determines streaming quality:
| Video Quality | Minimum Speed Requirement |
|---|---|
| 480p (Standard) | 1.5–3 Mbps |
| 720p (HD) | 3–5 Mbps |
| 1080p (Full HD) | 5–8 Mbps |
Browser Autoplay Settings
For seamless fullscreen playlist playback, ensure autoplay is enabled in your browser:
- Chrome: Click the lock/tune icon in the address bar while on cinemata.org → Site settings → Sound → Allow
- Safari: While on cinemata.org, click Safari menu → Settings for This Website → Auto-Play → Allow All Auto-Play
- Firefox: Click the lock icon in the address bar while on cinemata.org → Permissions → Autoplay → Allow Audio and Video
Tips
- Your actual streaming speed may differ from the test result. Speedtest measures connection to a nearby server, while Cinemata's main servers are in Europe. However, we use Cloudflare to cache videos closer to you—especially across Southeast Asia. If your speed test shows borderline results (e.g., 6 Mbps for 1080p), consider using 720p for more reliable playback.
- Watch the films in your playlist a day or a few hours before your event. This ensures the videos are cached on the Cloudflare server nearest to your location (a "POP"), resulting in faster load times for everyone at your screening. Popular playlists are likely already cached, but previewing ensures they are.
How It Works
1. Start Your Playlist
Access playlists from the Homepage by clicking View All or the playlist links above.
2. Click Play All
3. Watch in Fullscreen
Playlist mode activates automatically. Click the fullscreen icon for immersive viewing—perfect for community screenings and classroom settings.
4. Flow Between Films
As each film ends, a transition card (3-5 seconds) shows what's next.
5. Stay Immersed
Due to browser security, fullscreen exits briefly during transitions. One screen tap or Enter press returns you to fullscreen—no hunting for buttons.
6. Complete the Journey
After the final video, you are automatically returned to the playlist page. Share your experience, explore related collections, or dive into a discussion.
3. Coordination & Next Steps
☑ Confirm your participation to receive:
- the host kit (film list, schedule, visuals)
- communication templates
- guidance for discussion facilitation
- tech instructions for Cinemata access
We will be in constant coordination to ensure the smooth mounting of your event.
Cinemata – Rising Waters, Raising Rights Team
Partnerships, Technical & upload support: King Catoy — [email protected]
Programming & host coordination (Philippines): Eunice Helera — [email protected]
Programming & host coordination (Malaysia): Nadira Ilana — [email protected]
General inquiries / watch-party onboarding: [email protected]
Thank you for helping bring these powerful human rights stories to your community. Your participation creates another ripple in the movement toward awareness, justice, and collective care.