Enjoy This Trip My Friends (Entry #9 Short Film Awards 2024)

When Ecuadorian Diego and his 2 American friends Ben and Willie went satellite scouting for a never before paddled river in Southern Ecuador, they found a spectacular bedrock anomaly with the most common river name in the Amazon: Rio Negro. In Ecuador on a university grant for cultural studies and whitewater paddling for a year, Willie spent a month on buses, the back of trucks, and on foot to sort out the logistics for a Rio Negro attempt. Then in July/ August of 2023 Ben came back to Ecuador to join Willie and Diego for the 2 week mission including 8 days on the river. At the end of one of the most isolated rivers left in Ecuador, they found that gold miners were preparing to destroy the river. Now, one question remains. By: Ben Stookesberry