Ben Masters, director of The River and the Wall, has a new film out about the Colorado River. It will premiere in Marfa on Thursday night. Still courtesy of Fin and Fur Films.

MARFA — On Thursday, September 25, Ben Masters’ new documentary film, American Southwest, will make its local debut at Maintenant in Antelope Hills. Following the film — a dazzling trip down the Colorado River narrated by Indigenous activist Quannah ChasingHorse — one of the film’s producers will host a Q&A with local experts on water issues, including Trey Gerfers of the Presidio County Underground Water Conservation District, Dr. Kevin Urbanczyk of the Rio Grande Research Center at Sul Ross and reporter Sam Karas of Big Bend Sentinel.

The film is a collaboration between Masters’ Fin and Fur Films and Natives Outdoors, a Native-owned creative and athletic collective. “The documentary follows two storylines,” Masters explained in a press release. “The first traces the Colorado River’s journey from its headwaters to the sea. The second explores the evolving human relationship with the river and its wildlife — beginning thousands of years ago and continuing into the present day.”

Producer Katy Baldock became a full-time Marfan this year, but her ties to the region go way back. She has a production credit on Masters’ River and the Wall, which captured an iconic journey along the Texas-Mexico border by canoe, mountain bike and horseback. Though this latest project focuses on the Colorado River instead of the Rio Grande, Baldock thinks that Big Bend residents will find a lot they relate to in the film’s staggering canyon shots and debate over how to best administer the river’s water, which some 40 million people rely on. “It’s a mind-blowing story,” she said. 

The film will run about an hour and 45 minutes and will be screened inside of the barn at Maintenant. The gallery will host a cash bar, but attendees are welcome to bring their own beverages. After the screening, Baldock will moderate a Q&A tying the issues presented in American Southwest with some of the issues facing the Rio Grande, another endangered and highly litigated waterway. “I think everybody should know where our water comes from,” Baldock said. “We should have an understanding of how it’s used, how politics are involved, and what effect our upstream neighbors have on our water availability here.” 

Maintenant is located at 1825 Rabbits Road in Antelope Hills. 

An extended scene starring beavers in the Colorado River was a personal favorite of film producer and Marfa resident Katy Baldock, who worked on Ben Masters’ new documentary American Southwest. Still courtesy of Fin and Fur Films.