Lorehole

Lorehole is a feature-length documentary-in-progress about one of the strangest, most fragile, and most storied river systems in North America: the Amargosa.

Mostly underground, often invisible, and frequently misunderstood, the Amargosa is a place where geology, ecology, culture, and survival intersect in unexpected ways.

Lorehole is supported by the Sundance Institute | Sandbox Fund and California Humanities’ California Documentary Project.

The film

The film brings together Ahra Films (Francesca Roth and Matthew Crotty), acclaimed author Claire Vaye Watkins (I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, Gold Fame Citrus, Battleborn), and the Desert Advocacy Media Network (DAMN).

The Ahra Films team has been laying the creative and logistical groundwork for a deeply researched, visually rich, and ethically grounded documentary. Lorehole is being shaped by fieldwork, conversations, archival research, and time spent listening to the river and the people who know it best.

The Lorehole creative team is Matthew Crotty (Director & Editor), Francesca Roth (Producer), Claire Vaye Watkins (Producer, Writer & Narrator), Ryan Carmody (Cinematographer), Elori Saxl (Composer), and Chris Clarke (Executive Producer).

What Lorehole is exploring

• The hidden hydrology of the Amargosa—and why “mostly underground” does not mean lifeless
• Species found nowhere else on Earth that depend on the river and its groundwater
• The caretakers, scientists, artists, and communities shaped by the Amargosa
• How extraction, neglect, and climate pressures collide with resilience and stewardship
• Why places that are easy to overlook can matter enormously

This is not a conventional nature film, nor a simple advocacy piece. It is a documentary about attention: about learning to see what has been written off as empty or expendable, and what happens when we slow down enough to notice what is actually there.

About the Amargosa

The Amargosa River begins in the high desert of southern Nevada, crosses into California near Death Valley, and follows an extraordinary course through some of the hottest and driest country in North America. Much of its water travels underground, emerging at springs and wetlands that sustain rare plants and wildlife as well as human communities.

The river connects places that can appear isolated on a map but are joined by groundwater, geology, ecology, history, and culture. Lorehole follows those connections—and the people working to understand and sustain them.