An injured woman in a rafting helmet stands beside the river

An award-winning faith-based survival thriller

RedemptionRiver

When the river takes everything,
faith is all that remains.

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1 hr 25 min · Completed

Enter the story

Best PicturePurpose Film & Media Festival 2025

Best DirectorPurpose Film & Media Festival 2025

Best Lead ActressICFF 2025

Best Lead ActorPurpose Film & Media Festival 2025

The story

Sometimes survival means facing what you’ve been running from.

After the devastating loss of their child, Margo and Josh set out on a rafting trip hoping to save a marriage already at the breaking point. When an accident leaves them stranded in the unforgiving wilderness, survival demands more than strength.

Forced to confront grief, guilt, and the silence of God, they must decide whether faith—and their love—can carry them home.

Genre: Faith-Based / Survival Thriller
Runtime: 1:25:10
Status: Completed

A man watches over a woman resting in a hospital bed — Grief brings them to the edge. The river asks what remains.

At its heart

A wilderness parable

Faith in the silence

When prayer meets silence, hope becomes a choice.

Reconciliation through suffering

Truth, surrender, and forgiveness become the way forward.

Nature as scripture

The wilderness is both punishing and sacred—a place of testing and renewal.

Official Redemption River poster showing a raft in whitewater between dark rocks

A raft descends through whitewater rapids

Official trailer

The current turns. Everything changes.

Watch the first look at a marriage pushed to its limit—and a fight for survival that becomes a journey back to faith.

A film crew captures a rafting scene beside the American River

Making the film

Made on the river.

Every rafting sequence was captured practically on the American River— including the film’s water stunts. No green screens. No studio tanks.

Filmed among the rugged canyons and forests of Auburn and Sacramento, California, Redemption River pairs cinematography by Joey Katches with water cinematography by Emmy-winning Scott and Dustin Lindgren, whose credits include The River Runner.

Post-production was completed at Kappa Studios, known for The Chosen and His Only Son.