In honor of Mother’s Day, this week’s featured film River Mamma, is a tribute to motherhood, honoring the strength it takes to nurture others while staying true to your own passions.
— Paddling Magazine TV
River Mamma
Director: Sarah Hamilton
Producers: Ashley Peel, Charlie Turnbull
Winner of Best Rafting Film 2026 sponsored by AIRE
Whitewater is Elisha McArthur’s everything. Her passion, her happy place, her career. Then, she welcomed her daughter into the world. After Charlotte was born, Elisha struggled to balance her passion for whitewater with the demands of being a single mom. She had no precedent to follow and no way to know if both were possible. River Mamma, a short film by Sarah Hamilton, is a tribute to motherhood, honoring the strength it takes to nurture others while staying true to your own passions.
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I spent so much of my career trying to fit into that mold of what a raft guide is. And here I was, a single mom.
There was my baby. She reflected back at me that ‘this is who you are, and this is why I chose you to be my mom. Now get on the ball.’
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Behind The Film: River Mamma
By Marissa Trepanier
When Elisha McArthur agreed to let filmmaker Sarah Hamilton make a short film about her life, she had no idea how far her story would reach. The next thing she knew, River Mamma was winning Best Short at the 5Point Film Festival, being declared a Finalist at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, and being screened at various other film festivals across the U.S. and internationally. Most recently, River Mamma won Best Rafting Film at the 2026 Paddling Film Festival.
Elisha notes that at the film’s world premiere at the 5Point Film Festival, she was brought onstage to answer some pretty personal questions about an already personal film.
“I was like, oh boy, what did I get myself into?” laughs Elisha. “But I’m still glad I put myself out there. Because I believe stories are important and representation matters.”
Elisha is a lifelong whitewater enthusiast, raft guide and instructor. The film explores her relationship with her teenage daughter, Charlotte, who despite growing up on the river, no longer feels passionately about paddling.
The film’s name refers to a nickname Elisha was given just after Charlotte was born. She says that as a single mom with a baby who was less than a year old, she felt pressured to get a “real job.”
“But I had this realization that if I was going to be the best mom I could be, I had to be the best me I could be,” she continues. “Which meant doing what I love and being a raft guide.”
So she returned to the river with Charlotte, prompting the guides she worked with that summer to nickname her River Mamma. It’s stuck ever since…
