Worldwide online film screening for World Fish Migration Day: An adventure from the last Himalayan kingdom. Home to the world’s most ambitious commitment to protect nature, Bhutan faces urgent pressure to dam every river. A man named “Good Karma” guides an expedition to keep his country’s mightiest river free.

Robert Redford says: “A cinematic adventure into the heart of wilderness, ‘Power of the River’ captures the connection between people and the rivers that are our lifeblood.”

The Power of the River expedition targeted eastern Bhutan’s Drangme River, which the International Rafting Federation has called one of the world’s top-ten “untouched wild rivers.” Featuring rafting, kayaking, and flyfishing on uncharted whitewater, the film delves into cross-cultural connections and the future of sustainable tourism through techniques like #KeepFishWet angling.

We’ll see the characters fishing for the golden mahseer, an endangered “fish of kings” that thrives in Bhutan’s wild waters. The team demonstrates proper techniques for catch-and-release of the fish without harm. And yet one expedition member questions his own sport: “If a species is considered endangered should you be pursuing it at all? It falls into that category of loving things to death. You have to strike a balance between bringing attention to a fish, or anything for that matter, just enough to get people to really care about it and not completely overwhelm it. It’s really hard.”

The film has been selected for the World Wilderness Congress and the GoPro Mountain Games plus eight festivals, including the International Wildlife Film Festival and the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. The film garnered one award from DocuWest and four Maverick Movie Award nominations including best documentary, best director, best editing, and best cinematography. Grammy-winning music from Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn and an original score by Stefan Smulovitz lend fitting musical magic to the journey of a lifetime. Power of the River premiered on Rocky Mountain PBS and multiple other public television stations in 2023.