AwA - The Reel

THE REEL

by AwA

The Power of Film THE POWER OF THE RIVER, RIVER, an adventure documentary set in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, embarks on a journey from prayer-flag mountain passes to rafts and kayaks navigating uncharted Class IV+ whitewater. An all-Bhutanese river crew guides a first-ever fly fishing descent of a wild and untouched river.

The visiting international expedition team encounters a kingdom at a crossroads: hailed for conservation even as it faces pressure to dam every river.

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The film was the winner for Best Feature, at the Docuwest Documentary Film Festival and received nominations for Best Documentary, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Editing at the Maverick Awards. The film was also an official selection at the Environmental Film Festival, International Wildlife Film Festival, Colorado Environmental Film Festival and more.

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AwA HAD THE PLEASURE OF TALKING WITH WRITER, DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER GREG HAMILTON ABOUT HIS FILM

AwA: What was the inspiration for the expedition?

GH: When I first heard about the idea of an expedition to the Buddhist kingdom that puts happiness above wealth and has committed to protect far more forest cover, forever, than any other country, I was all in. I wanted the story to illuminate a different side of adventures in nature, not so much the fist pumping conquerors, not the ‘egotourism,’ but thoughtful investigation of the sacrifices and the moral dilemmas that accompany exploration in the 21st century.

GH: Some of the absolute brightest moments in the process were the epiphanies for us as storytellers. We had a beautiful team collaborating from across Colorado and even internationally to Canada, India, and Bhutan. I recall the first glimpse of footage from our Bhutanese second-unit cameraman, Paco Penjore, where he captured these charming, funny, intimate moments with our main character, Karma, and his young son. That was before we had even traveled over there and it already felt like we had characters audiences would love.

AwA: What were some of the challenges in creating this film?

GH: The film has been a nine year labor of love! Scheduling and planning our expedition, given that the river was largely unexplored at the time, was the first of our big tasks. Monsoon rains could turn the sketchiest parts of the river we’d be floating into a death trap. The expedition team talks about this in the film: all of us had something to lose if something went wrong over there and we had to face the fact that where we were going, any little mistake could have dire consequences.

AwA: From the title, the focus is on the river, not the people—why did you lead with the river?

GH: I think it’s fair to say we were trying to be a voice for this river.

For millennia it has gone about the business of being a river, kind of oblivious to the threat that a major hydropower project would create to its whole ecosystem. And yet the story we told is very much about the people on our expedition and those we met crossing this beautiful Himalayan kingdom. I had hoped that we could convey what an expedition like this actually felt like, not just what it meant. We aimed to sweep audiences along with us as if they were part of the crew—and I think we succeeded in that.

AwA: What was a moment that stood out for you?

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AwA: How does it feel when you are working on something you are passionate about?

GH: There’s kind of an imperative to keep pressing on through even the hardest times. It can be a beautiful process but it can also be heartbreaking. For example, I had made myself a firm commitment to pay every member of our team their full rates—which is not a given in my experience of filmmaking. There was one brutal moment when I realized I couldn’t pay Matt, my director of cinematography, his final (big) installment on time. I knew I would pay it eventually—and I did, over a year later—but that first call to him to say the check wouldn’t be there on time was painful. I think it’s important to know that true passion projects aren’t necessarily cake walks: it’s the passion that can pull you through some very hard times.

AwA: What do you hope people will take away from the film?

GH: I believe we bridged two very distant cultures and found common ground in our connection to the wildness in the nature around us. In a lot of ways we think of our rivers quite differently: here on the banks of the Yampa, we are no strangers to recreating in our river. In Bhutan, rivers are considered scary and dangerous.

Our main river guide talks about how he wasn’t sure if he knew how to swim the year before this expedition! Where we found connection was in reverence for wilderness.

AwA: What other films have you worked on?

GH: This is my second film as writer and director, but my first as producer and my first feature length. My first film, The Movement: One Man Joins an Uprising, was largely inspired by the work of Steamboat’s own Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports (STARS) in getting people with disabilities up on the mountain. That film did well on the festival circuit, making it all the way to Sundance,

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and it cemented my interest in telling stories in this way. I’ve also worked as a marketer with the creative teams behind other popular documentaries from Chasing Ice to Muscle Shoals and the NASCAR film Dale, narrated by Paul Newman.

AwA: What gets you excited as a filmographer?

GH: I’m drawn to stories that surprise me— and ideally you, too!

When characters— real people in real situations— do something unexpected that confounds our expectation of doom and gloom to give us hope, it can be glorious.

AwA: What’s your next project?

GH: I now work at the Yampa Valley Community Foundation as a liaison, essentially, to all the nonprofits working here in northwest Colorado. Maybe part of that is helping them to tell their own stories even more compellingly. I see the solid work they are all doing right here in our communities and I want to help in whatever way I can.

ELEVATE THE ARTS: Power of the River: Expedition to the Heart of Water will premiere very soon, almost certainly before the end of 2022. Check PowerOfTheRiverMovie.com for details. It will be free to watch on Rocky Mountain PBS and will be released on YouTube, Vimeo and similar streaming services. Independent filmmakers depend on your support. We recommend donating the cost of a movie ticket when you view the film and spreading the word on social media. AwA Page 30: The Power of the River expedition team nears Bhutan’s border with India in Royal Manas National Park. Photo by Dave McCoy. Page 31: Greg Hamilton on bridge while filming Power of the River. Photo by Dave McCoy. Page 32: Rescuing a stuck raft on Bhutan’s Drangme River while filming Power of the River.

Photo by Matthew Whalen.

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