South African filmmaker Sven Harding has been named as the winner of WaterAid and Worldview’s inaugural international film competition – sH₂Orts.

Sven’s film ‘Moonwalk’ highlights how, every day, women and children in the country collectively walk as far as to the moon and back 16 times to fetch water.

Entries for the competition, which called on budding filmmakers to submit one-minute films about what water means to them, came from 33 different countries across the globe, ranging from Nepal to Nigeria and Brazil to Bangladesh.

The films were assessed by an esteemed judging panel, comprising Downton Abbey star and WaterAid ambassador Hugh Bonneville; Indian film director and actor Shekhar Kapur; British director and filmmaker Philip Bloom; British director Gurinder Chadha; Nigerian filmmaker Jeta Amata; and Head of Documentaries at the Guardian, Charlie Phillips.

The panel said ‘Moonwalk’ was a “compelling juxtaposition of mankind’s success in space versus his failure on earth” and “beautifully shot – a brilliant message told with flair that you can’t look away from”.

“I’m fascinated by space travel, but it seems absurd that we can put people onto the moon and into orbit, but we still haven’t figured out how to supply water and sanitation for millions of people on earth,” Sven said.

Catherine Feltham, Film Producer for WaterAid, said: “It’s been a truly global competition with such creative and diverse films showing the different way people across the world connect with water.

“ It’s fantastic for WaterAid to have this suite of highly engaging films to use and share for World Water Day 2015 as we raise awareness of the importance of clean water and 748 million people without access to this basic resource.”

The other winners

Paani (Water), by Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka from Nepal, received more than 26,000 views in three weeks, making it the People’s Choice winner.

There were three runners-up:

• ‘Recovery’, a music video by Josta Hopps in Sierra Leone about the importance of clean water in the fight against Ebola.
• ‘Joe’s Morning’, by 11-year-old Indie Mark from the UK, features a Lego man called Joe who faces a morning without water.
• ‘Right to Water’, produced by Sohel Rana from Bangladesh and filmed with a hidden camera, shows women’s challenges in collecting water.