Just when you thought your stockings were fully stuffed, dynamic filmmaking duo Peter Christensen and Rolf Nylinder of the Kokkaffe Conglomerate drop one more banger to make ’em burst. Only the River Knows takes place on New Zealand’s legendary Lethe River and chronicles trout obsessed cabin-dweller Lars Lenth through the lost-in-the-woods eyes of a young Nylinder. A feast for your inner fishing beast. Check it.
Via Only the River Knows: “The main part of the film takes place by the legendary Lethe River on New Zealand’s wild and wondrous South Island. Back in 1988, one of the most iconic fly fishers of our time, Lars Lenth, spent three months exploring the fabled river and fishing for its abnormally large trout. At night, he would sit down in a remote cabin and write down his experiences in a journal.
“Nearly 25 years later, the young trout bum Rolf Nylinder looses his way in the wilderness near Lethe. By chance, he finds the long-lost journal, full of insights about the very soul of fly fishing. Along with Rolf on the trip is documentarist Peter Christensen, filming their mostly failing attempts to catch trout, and Rolf’s ever-growing obsession of the journal.
“The entire journal of Lars Lenth has been reconstructed by an extensive and ambitious team of cinematographers and crew members. The young, sensitive and freedom-loving Lenth is played by Danish fly fishing ace and actor Mikkel Poppelhøj, who had to practise four hours daily for six months to be able to cast as well as the role necessitated.”
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.