Submergence and Resurgence: An Audiovisual Portrait of Vietnamese Ecofeminism in Nguyễn-Võ Nghiêm-Minh’s 2030

In Vietnamese, the word nước is a unique multifaceted term. It means water, liquid, or fluid. Metaphorically, the nước can also denote homeland, country, and nation. Nước refers to freshwater needed for rice cultivation, which is central to Việt Nam and the Mekong Delta region. Climate change, however, threatens Việt Nam as well as this understanding of nước. Nguyễn-Võ Nghiêm-Minh’s environmental film, 2030 (Nước, Directed by Nguyễn-Vỏ Nghiêm-Minh. Green Snapper Productions, 2014), imagines a near future where Việt Nam, especially the South’s low-lying coastal and river delta regions, suffers from rising global sea levels. In analysing 2030, I wonder what does nước become in a speculative environmental future where saltwater is overabundant and freshwater is scarce? This chapter demonstrates how the film complicates nước whilst scrutinising global capitalist enterprises that seek to exploit and commodify nature and water. I argue that 2030 feminises nước by depicting a woman intimately connected with water, positioning her as the foundation of survival rather than green technological progress or capitalistic pursuit. In doing so, Nguyễn-Võ’s film expands definitions of nước, transforming it from its original mythological founding of Việt Nam to centre a woman, whose connection to water embodies Vietnamese ecofeminist empowerment and resists the exploitation and commodification of nature.