Lower Carniola (Slovene: Dolenjska; German: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historic Carniola region.

Lower Carniola is confined by the Ljubljanica river with the city of Ljubljana and Lake Cerknica in the west, and by the Sava in the north. In the south the border runs along the Gorjanci mountains and the Krka river up to its confluence with the Sava near the town of Brežice in the east. The adjacent southernmost region down to the border with Croatia on the Kolpa river is called White Carniola and usually counted as part of the Lower Carniolan region.

Within the Kočevski Rog karst plateau, the mountains reach an altitude of up to 1,099 m (3,606 ft). The historic centre of Lower Carniola is Novo Mesto, while other towns include Kočevje, Grosuplje, Krško, Trebnje, Mirna, Črnomelj, Semič, and Metlika.

In the 17th century, the Habsburg duchy of Carniola was internally divided into three administrative districts. This division was thoroughly described by the scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in his 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola. The districts were known in German as Kreise (kresija in old Slovene). They were: Upper Carniola with its centre in Ljubljana (formerly Kranj), comprising the northern areas of the duchy; Inner Carniola comprising the southwest, with its centre in Postojna, and Lower Carniola in the southeast, roughly corresponding to the mediæval Windic March of the Holy Roman Empire. While the bulk of the population spoke Slovene, a German-speaking exclave existed around Kočevje (Gottscheers) in the south.

Big River Man is a 2009 documentary film directed by John Maringouin. It follows the Slovenian long-distance swimmer Martin Strel as he swims the entire 3,300 mile length of the Amazon River, between February and April 2007.

The film was nominated for the grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the Excellence in Cinematography Award (Maringouin also shot the film). It is being distributed by Revolver Entertainment and the Discovery Channel.

The film has been almost universally praised, achieving a score of 96% by Rotten Tomatoes and 100% score by the top critics, as well as a score of 67 from Metacritic indicating generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the humor and story telling of the documentary and many compared it to a Werner Herzog documentary. One negative review came from Anthony Quinn of Independent, who called the on-screen chronicle of the swim "fuzzy and flaky".

2m1 Records recently released the soundtrack score at the beginning of 2011. In the liner notes, 2m1 Records states: "Rich Ragsdale's wonderful musical achievement defines Martin Strel and his comedic yet serious struggle in swimming 3,300 miles down the Amazon. Going from a Pendereckian aesthetic to even post-rock and orchestral minimalism, this score is contagious in its ability to take you on a comedic yet dark subconscious emotional journey of Big River Man's eclectic protagonist." In association with KNR Productions and Producer Andrew P. Alderete, 2m1 released this album through iTunes and Amazon.