The visionary new film The River: A Songwriter’s Stories of the South is unlike anything you’ve seen. Starring Nashville-based cosmic roots band Coyote Motel, it’s a music and performance movie, but it’s also a cultural history, a memoir, and a psychedelic experience. In 10 songs and stories, The River explores the lives, lore, and locales along three great rivers of the American South—the Mississippi, the Cumberland, and the Tallahatchie.

Conceived and written by Coyote Motel bandleader Ted Drozdowski and directed by Richie Owens of Parlor Films, the crowdfunded feature film is also a collaboration of more than 15 Nashville independent artists, including light art creators Darling Lucifer Productions and the aerialists of Suspended Gravity Circus. The River: A Songwriter’s Stories of the South is currently in festival competition and was recently awarded Best International Feature Film by the Polish International Film Festival, Best Original Feature Soundtrack and Best Experimental Feature laurels by Cincinnati’s Queen City Film Festival, and Best Music by Kick-Off International Film Festival.