Surfers and documentary filmmakers, Lucy Jane and Joya Berrow, are the founders of The Right to Roam. Passionate about environmental issues and exploring the relationship we have with nature, the talented duo have been using film as a tool to create thought provoking narratives that force us to look at ourselves and our social impact.

Over the last few years they have brought light to underrepresented stories, inspiring new energy to global issues.

We spoke to Lucy and Joya in depth, and learnt about how the natural world around us, and the therapy they found within this, heavily influences their storytelling…

With each film we want to create physical and positive impact for the individual, community and environment we have captured. So it is their legacy, of gratitude and everyone has been equipped with the tools they need to protect the environment surrounding them, as well as share that information to create positive feedback loops.
We hope that we will have contributed to the movement of climate storytelling, pushing it forward and helped build a diverse and representative climate movement. And a world that is Carbon positive!

One of the most recent documentaries the filmmakers directed tells the story of a young woman, Yassandra Barrios, who emerges as the environmental leader of her island. She learns to dive, studies Marine Biology, rallies the fishermen and young people to bring awareness to protecting their marine ecosystem. She inspires those around her with a vision of a more secure future for their island home.

You can watch the full Dive Tierra Bomba Dive film here.

What is a typical day like for you both?

A day in our life sits somewhere within a push and pull of 100% of the time wanting to sleep, cook, be outside. However balancing responsibilities of being connected to wider communities online means we spend a lot of energy sitting down at screens, building up connections, and keeping projects moving.

Time on a screen is always broken up with time with loved ones, immersing ourselves in cold water such as the ocean or a cold shower, yoga practise, surfing, walking, collecting wildflower bunches, finding new wild seasonal ingredients to make a pickle, jam, tea blend, tending to the plant beings, giving them water and generally staring at them in amazement of their strength and endurance.

The list goes on, podcasts, books, expanding our knowledge and understanding of how the world is evolving and devolving, trying to weave those vital practises, adding stimuli into our daily lives whilst putting in the time to drive progress for our documentary film projects. Learning how vital space is, the space within ourselves that no one can see, but we feel. To keep a balance and having that as your grounding practise to pivot you outwards and give you clarity and strength to do the work you need to do.

Filming the Kitchen Scene with Yassandra and Mother, Yass's house, Bocachica.jpeg

What are the fondest memories from your upbringing that you feel impacted your life choices and lifestyle today?

Namely, all of those many hours spent in, around and exploring the environment.

We are so incredibly privileged to have the freedom to be in nature all our lives, but especially at such a young age. Through filmmaking, we try to address the issue that nature is a privilege and that should be accessible to all, so we try to create connections and understanding in the films that we make.

Lucy - “The ocean - seeing dolphins for the first time - catching a wave for the first time - travelling around South America meeting insane ocean communities”.

Joya - “I genuinely think that I spent most of my childhood swinging off the ivy in this forest/valley, skidding down a mudslide down into a river, sitting under huge canopy leaves, trees. Going swimming in the sea before & after school! What a blessed life. I just remember always being covered in mud, spores from some plant, sea salt or just anything and climbing, crawling on everything all the time!

We didn't know each other back then, but we were so similar. Both major tomboys wearing boys clothes, obsessed with gymnastics and just crazy little girls who looked like boys running around being crazy and pumped full of plant energy.

I guess all of those memories have impacted how we choose to live today and what we place as a priority for ourselves to be in the bosom of nature and grow with her close by”.

Another award-winning film the girls filmed and directed was the story of an inspiring surfer who uses her sport to transform the lives of many Jamaican women. As filmmakers, Lucy and Joya feel a responsibility to tell diverse stories, and particularly female stories through a female gaze.

Surf Girls Jamaica was selected for the 7th Annual NY Women's Surf Film Festival 2019.

“Glorious, righteous film about a feminist surfing group in Jamaica. Looks absolutely fantastic, deeply inspiring. hugely fun yet hard hitting, this should be top of your list” - Paul Hodgson

Lucy and Joya are renowned for their focus on social and environmental justice narratives.

“We are always bringing in other practises to our lives as well as into filmmaking, such as surfing, herbalism, community gardening and understanding plant intelligence. Creating new knowledge and language through their fusion and therefore impact the way we choose to tell these stories. The natural world is definitely calling us to have our hands deep in the soil as part of our healing, so that we can ground ourselves there to continue to trust our intuition and tell these important stories.”

What have been the biggest challenges you've had to overcome?

Collectively, trying to support ourselves as female filmmakers whilst making the work we feel is important and are passionate about has been a huge challenge!

Since we began making films together we had a strong vision of the messages we wanted to spread through our work and the ways that we wanted to make them. But this has rarely been in line with what the more commercial world is looking for. At times it can feel as though it is just us two against a whole industry that won’t support us and that we would have to take work we don’t agree with just to feel secure. I guess that's the nature of the industry and how a lot of people feel, unfortunately, that's the world we live in till there are some huge shifts!

There are certain structures that have been built over time in the film industry, which you have to work within, such as pitching for a commercial job or budgeting, scheduling for a shoot which does not prioritise collective well being, building relationships with place, crew/cast, finding peace, space and spirituality in the practice. We find that difficult, as we try to stand up against these structures and ask to work differently, so sometimes it feels like you are wading against a river that is flowing in the opposite direction.

However, we are beginning to feel a part of a strong community of filmmakers who are working to make an impact. We have found the amazing support that is out there and how like-minded storytellers can support and nurture one another. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that nuanced human stories, focused on environmental social justice, are a calling for us, but also seem to be accelerated in the mainstream. So again this will have its own balance, navigating the way in which we continue to choose to be storytellers. We feel a place for ourselves within the industry now and a motivation to make change, using film as a tool - that helps us to overcome the more difficult times!

What would you most like to change in the world/environment today?

That’s a huge question but at its simplest…

That the environment is restored to a thriving equilibrium, all around the world flourishing rather than struggling and disappearing. This all comes back to culture, the culture around the climate crisis and people’s connection to nature. If we could change the system that oppresses vulnerable and marginalised communities, which so many people every day are putting themselves out there to speak up! Everybody needs to have equal access to enjoy nature and find therapy within it, then the global appreciation and connection to nature would be so much higher and the effort to protect it much greater!! The structure of our society that is mirrored within the climate crisis conversation itself, is constantly being challenged because it is oppressive. There is so much that needs to shift and change, it's happening and even we are navigating our place within it all and how we can best serve the natural world and all the people (so everyone) whose lives depend on it!

What do you value most in life?

Nature. Light. Senses. Water.

We value the singular connected energy that is this global human community and the world we belong to. That vital synergy that is ignored by many but also recognised by many more.

Are there any books/documentaries that have guided your thinking?

In storytelling, we have been heavily influenced by documentaries that look at humans' connection to the natural world. Filmmakers such as Ben Rivers, push the boundaries of film making between different fictional portals and exhibition spaces, he makes it all feel very fluid and open.

A few films Honeyland, (Be)longing, Two Years at Sea and My name is Salt, Sweetgrass, Aatsinki the arctic cowboy - are just some examples of films that have inspired our perspective and approach to documentary since we first started making films together.

Joya always finds the most amazing books and picks out lines or chapters that can end up informing a whole new project or inspire a whole new outlook on the environment/ themes around it.

Watch more of their work here.

Instagram - @therighttoroamfilms