03/13/2026
When filmmakers Will Buckley and Diego Riley had the chance to join Glen Canyon Institute on a trip to Glen Canyon in 2022, it became clear that the moment required an update to the story of Glen Canyon.
Growing up, the two had heard the mythos of Glen Canyon—it was a Garden of Eden banished beneath 150 feet of water, a place they would never get to see. And yet, the Glen Canyon that they experienced was full of life, restoring to an almost natural state with flora and fauna coming back.
The documentary What the River Knows is what emerged: an inspiring, hopeful, and authentic film about the Glen Canyon we are seeing today.
“Hiking through these canyons,” Buckley describes, “standing in cottonwood forests and canopies 50 feet overhead, knowing that just two decades before, you would have been 80 feet under water… It’s a truly otherworldly experience.”
For the next two weeks, GCI is hosting film screenings across Colorado and New Mexico in partnership with and other local organizations including and . All events will open with Crow Canyon’s film, Glen Canyon Rising.
“It’s just a really great opportunity to come and connect over a shared love of our rivers and to see an inspirational unfolding that we don’t really get to see very often in the current environmental landscape,” says Buckley.
Between 3/14 and 3/26, What the River Knows will be screening in Durango, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, Cortez, Boulder, Fort Collins, Denver, and Grand Junction.
At the link in our bio, read Buckley’s full interview with Emily Sender from Taos News under the “News” tab or find tickets and more information about What the River Knows events under “Upcoming Film Screenings.”
