Meet Greg I. Hamilton | Filmmaker, ‘Power of the River: Expedition to the Heart of Water in Bhutan’

We had the good fortune of connecting with Greg I. Hamilton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Greg, what matters most to you?
“Press on.” When I was younger I might have answered “joy” or “passion.” After decades in the work world, personal rollercoasters, a new career, a recent return to academia, and a world that continues spinning, I think today I have found some joy and passion in just showing up for life each day. I guess a piece of it is like that military quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” But it’s not just about the dark times. Even when it’s heady and exciting, there’s huge value in showing up, challenging yourself, doing the work, and not thinking it’s time to coast. In pressing on— moving forward— I try to balance openness to new things with reverence for who I am and where I came from.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I love art that challenges my assumptions and surprises me with rays of light that illuminate dark places. I’m a cultural anthropologist, very interested in what connects humanity; what bridges all of our differences. With all the variety in human experience, I care most about lifting up the voices and perspectives of those who haven’t been heard (or not heard enough). So it was important that this story not just go where other environmental or adventure travel or cross-cultural encounter stories have gone. We tried to meet the families of our main characters, learn more about their inner conflicts, challenge them to explore the “why” of their exploits. We wanted to sweep audiences along on our adventure, give then a taste of what experiencing a wild river expedition can be like— mishaps, frustrations, ecstasy, and all. I’m honored and humbled that audiences, film festivals, and reviewers have all confirmed that the film delivered on these goals. I can’t say that the process to complete and release this film was anything resembling “easy.” It consumed more than my entire life savings, I’ll be paying down the debt for more years still, and there were times where I wanted to give up. I’ve accepted that I’m not likely to ever get paid for my work on the film: at this point I hope donations just help to offset some of my costs to make it. Is this success? I don’t know. I watch a lot of films—hundreds a year over several decades—and I trust my gut that what we’ve created here is exceptional and important. Maybe this is how artists feel when they know in their heart that what they’ve created is right, even if it isn’t commercially successful or immediately embraced by audiences? I will say that I’m proud of the film we created and honored that it now has distribution that could make it available to over 100 million households through public television. That’s a triumph of independent storytelling. Maybe it’s even success!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It’s an epic snow year in our little ski town of Steamboat, so we’d have to get up on the mountain for some powder runs in the trees. We’d après slopeside at one of three great spots: smoked wings at Routtie’s BBQ, happy hour fries at Paramount, or a skillet of rösti at the T-bar (“a five-star dive bar”). That night we’d have to soak in Strawberry Hot Springs, this magical natural wonderland up in the hills outside of town. Another night we’d cross town to the new Routt Distillery, where owner Brad will personally serve us some of his handcrafted gin. We’ll splurge on Tahk Omakase’s authentic Japanese cuisine. One night when we can’t be bothered to plan ahead for reservations, we’ll hit O’Neill’s pub for the best fish and chips in town. It’s great to be a visitor here but also pretty awesome to live here. So one day we’ll stock up on fresh local produce at the Community Agriculture Alliance Market, some other fine ingredients at Steamboat Meat & Seafood, then we’ll head back to our place to cook dinner. I’ve got gluten-reduced blueberry imperial stout and pecan bourbon caramel honey mead on draught for a home happy hour. We’ll marvel at the snow that has piled up so high on the ground that it meets the ice sliding off the roof. We’ll eat and drink a little too much then settle in for an independent film that will surprise and delight us. With luck our final night together will feature the return of the band that played here when my wife and I met almost ten years ago: the very funky Front Range band Eufórquestra.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I love that film is a public artform: I suppose some films can be made by a single storyteller but I’ve always loved working with a small, talented creative team. There’s so much to say about these and many others but I’ll try to hit just a few samples: we were incredibly lucky to employ the talents of editor Jocelyne Chaput. She’s a superb storyteller and her latest film (which she co-edited and co-wrote), is a 2023 Oscar nominee: ‘Fire of Love.’ Matthew Whalen risked life, limb, and his camera to capture dynamic action and stunning beauty in remote mountains where there was no second take. Paco Penjore managed to coax authentic, intimate moments out of his Bhutanese countryman and our film’s star, Karma. Composer Stefan Smulovitz wove cultural threads he gathered in Bhutan into an intriguing score that tickles the emotions and intellect. And our characters dug deep to bring unexpected truths to their time on camera.

Website: poweroftherivermovie.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gihamilton/

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@poweroftheriver