Strel had already swam the Danube, Mississippi, Paraná and Yangtze rivers, but because of the dangers of the Amazon he did face some opposition. With the help of his son Borut, narrator, and amateur navigator Matt from Wisconsin set out in a small boat to something no one had dared to do before.

The father-son bond was made apparent by the look into Martin and Borut's private lives before there adventure began, and many times throughout the film Borut was stressed and worried about his father in this river, which is so incredibly polluted and rife with piranhas and crocodiles. Martin underwent a lot of physical stress and eventually began showing signs of mental struggles. He swam for 66 days,more than 10 hours a day, for a total of 3,274 miles. The film has brought the awareness of the destruction of the rain forest around the Amazon River to a wide audience, who may have not seen footage of this magnitude. Even though Martin has been called names such as, “The Craziest Man in the World," he achieved what he set out to do dedicating this swim to the protection of environmental resources. Martin and Borut came to Telluride with director John Maringouin and answered questions after the film was shown. I was fortunate to meet them in town the day of the closing ceremonies and picnic. They were kind enough to speak to anyone that had questions and stop for photos. Martin currently does not have any more big swims planned.

For more information about the Amazon and Big River Man, visit AmazonSwim.com.

Lisa Wilson is a local Telluride blogger and photographer. You can see more of her work at Mountains Rule & Telluride Daily Photo and follow her on Twitter @TellurideLisa.