The Colorado River is big. Very big. Starting in the Colorado Rockies, it winds southwest, flowing through Colorado, Utah and Arizona, straddling the Nevada-California border, then crossing into Mexico before finally emptying into the Gulf of California. The 1,450-mile-long river and its tributaries make up a watershed that supports around 40 million people across the American southwest and northern Mexico. Critically, however, the river is in danger: Its flow has been shrinking, dramatically affecting the ecosystems and wildlife that call this region home.
So begins “The American Southwest,” the provocatively titled new documentary from Fin & Fur Films in collaboration with Len Necefer’s Natives Outdoors. While written and directed by veteran filmmaker Ben Masters, the film is the product of a broader collaboration among craftspeople, Indigenous leaders and conservationists, notably Diné filmmaker-producer Necefer and narrator Quannah Chasinghorse (Hän Gwich’in and Sicangu Lakota).
Inspired in part by horseback trips Masters took in 2010 and 2013, the movie operates in two complementary side-by-side modes. First, it follows the Colorado River basin and its wildlife, catching moments of life, death and renewal as the story moves downstream. Second and perhaps more crucial, it makes a clear conservation case, undermining and recontextualizing the nature footage shown throughout. Informed by Indigenous history and stewardship, these sequences show how human “development” encroaches on the river’s intertwined habitats — including, at times, the river itself.
The two-sided structure isn’t flawless, but the power of the imagery is undeniable. The nature cinematography is simply breathtaking. Detours and mini-narratives, filmed in carefully scouted locations, mirror the river’s own branching character. The film is at its strongest when it tracks key species (elk, beavers and condors, among others) grappling with the pressures of a changing watershed.
“We identified species that represented more than just a beautiful animal doing something cool,” Masters said. “We were looking for behavior that tied that species back to the river — and to the story of humans’ relationship with the natural world.”
If every film is a documentary of its own making, “The American Southwest” is no exception. The filmmakers’ dialectical approach of counterpointing beauty and threat reflects their formal approach. Despite its (almost) all-animal cast, the movie is full of human feeling: humor, suspense and quiet drama are found throughout the 100-minute runtime. Much of that comes from a clear eye for composition and a willingness to find rhythm in the edit.
“Before we went into a shoot, we’d have an idea of the story,” Masters said. “We had a shot list, a script, a plan — and then everything would change in the field. We’d bring the footage into the edit and adapt the script to what we actually captured.”
The film premiered in Utah and several other states Sept. 5. Though, it is especially relevant here: much of our water, including Salt Lake City’s, comes from the Colorado River basin. “Other states would do anything to have the public lands access that Utah has,” Masters said. “It’s special to have that space to roam.” That privilege, the film insists, comes with serious responsibility.
“In 2026, the states will renegotiate the management of the Colorado River Basin,” Masters said. “There’s a real opportunity to manage the river more holistically — so we can still have healthy rivers.” The closing credits include a QR code linking to a petition urging policies that mimic natural flows and dedicate water to wildlife and the river’s delta.
“We can choose to live in a Southwest where the rivers flow, where we have more wildlife, more open spaces and public lands,” Masters said. “That’s the Southwest I want to live in.”
