USA,
2003, 78 min
Shown in 2003
CREDITS
- dir
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Robb Moss
- prod
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Robb Moss
- cam
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Robb Moss
- editor
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Karen Schmeer
- source
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Next Life Films, 37 Greenough Ave., Boston, MA 02130. FAX: 617-495-8197. EMAIL: robbmoss@samerivertwice.com.
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COMMENTS
Robb Moss in person.
OTHER
Twenty-five years ago, Robb Moss and his fellow whitewater river-rafting guides took one last 35-day trip down the Colorado River. They were freewheeling, drug-taking and naked—especially naked. Moss captured the trip in his striking, beautiful, vérité-style documentary film Riverdogs. Everything on their excursion was done communally, right down to debating when to stop. And, during their final conversations one got the feeling that, more than simply leaving the river, they were leaving an era as well—the ’70s were just about over, man. Leaving the river and their floating community, everyone put on clothes. Some even donned ties. Now an established filmmaker, as well as a teacher at Harvard, Moss has returned to his friends, to revisit their old trip together and document their current lives in more established environs. Thankfully, these aren’t the clichéd tales of hippy sellouts. Instead, Moss’s friends have negotiated their desires to live well and freely while embracing philosophies of respect for each other, the environment and the communities where they live. Through their stories we receive a powerful and contemplative vision of how social pressure, time and our physical beings inflect our choices and shape our lives.
—Sean Uyehara
FACTOID #222
The SFIFF has honored some of cinema’s best lensers with tributes, including James Wong Howe (1974), Gabriel Figueroa (1984), Nestor Alemendros (1986), Ernest Dickerson (1991) and John Alton (1994). Cinematographer Haskell Wexler received a tribute as a featured filmmaker in the New Directors series, when he appeared with his directorial debut, Medium Cool.
