The struggle for mother water. Water is life. Water is Everything. Without water we cannot survive. There are more than 2 billion people without access to safely managed drinking water. Everything relies on water, if we don’t have water, we don’t have humanity.
Team
Michael Zelniker
Founder & President
Antonina Markoff
Job Title
Michael Zelniker
Founder & President
Born and raised in Montreal, Michael is an award-winning actor and filmmaker. After more than 30 years working on film, television and theater stages around the world and 14 years training actors and filmmakers at the Los Angeles campuses of the New York Film Academy and AMDA College and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, Michael left this work to volunteer full time to try and help solve the climate crisis.
As a lifelong environmentalist, Michael fulfilled a dream in 2018 when he completed the training with former Vice President Al Gore, becoming a member of the Climate Reality Project’s Leadership Corps. He served for almost 3 years as Co-Chair of the Los Angeles chapter, mentoring and presenting at several Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps trainings.
In 2021, Michael returned to filmmaking with The Issue with Tissue – a boreal love story, a documentary about the boreal forest and the Indigenous Peoples who call it home, combining his passions for storytelling, film and climate action. The critically acclaimed feature film, which he wrote, produced, directed, shot and edited played in theaters and film festivals all over the world. The 6 part series will be available on various streaming platforms in early 2026.
In 2023, heeding the call from water, Michael embarked on a 219 day journey, traveling to 21 countries in every corner of the globe with the singular purpose to uplift the voices and stories of those on the frontlines of the water crisis. This life-changing crusade yielded an 8 part docuseries titled The Struggle for Mother Water about water and women who are waging a courageous, inspiring fight to protect and conserve it. The 8 part docuseries will be released in 2026.
“Seeing the realities on the ground of children and women experiencing the existential impacts of water scarcity, fetching obviously contaminated water to be used for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing… Learning that the contaminated water they were fetching is their only option, led me to conclude, I have to try and do something. Thus the Mother Water Fund was created where 100% of the money donated will go directly to help the women, children and their communities, that are highlighted in The Struggle for Mother Water, gain access to clean safe drinking water and reliable, functional sanitation.”