Tag Archives: SXSW
‘The River and The Wall’ is a Visually Stunning Borderland Adventure
The film strives to step beyond the sensationalist rhetoric and show America what its southern boundary actually looks, sounds and feels like.
On a crisp December morning in 2017, Austin Alvarado paddles his canoe along a remote stretch of the Rio Grande’s Lower Canyons. The 25-year-old Guatemalan-Am...Read More
New Documentary Reveals the Deadly Cost of Texas’ Anti-Worker Agenda
As the Legislature ponders yet another crackdown on labor, Building the American Dream explores the stakes of labor policy in the country’s largest red state.
Roendy Granillo, 25, was installing hardwood flooring in a house near Dallas when the heat started getting to him. It was July 2015, and the temperature had hit...Read More
Fearless and Funny, Molly Ivins Comes to Life in ‘Raise Hell’
If only she were around today.
I learned within my first day at the Texas Observer that Molly Ivins looms large over this place. Literally, two sizeable black-and-white photos of her hang abo...Read More
‘Breakthrough’ Chronicles Nobel Prize Winner Jim Allison’s Long Fight for Science
Forty years after the immunologist testified at the Texas Legislature in favor of teaching evolution, state leaders are still debating its inclusion in school curriculums.
Nobel Prize winner Jim Allison is used to being considered something of a troublemaker. When he was a kid growing up in small-town Alice, Texas, he battled with...Read More
Drag Queens and Churchgoers Find Common Ground in ‘The Gospel of Eureka’
With arms outstretched, the 67-foot-tall mortar Christ of the Ozarks sculpture towers over Eureka Springs, Arkansas, literally and figuratively. For decades, to...Read More
‘Get High With Ricki Lake!’: New Film on Medical Marijuana Leaves Out Texas Families
Featuring heartrending stories, Weed the People aims to change the stigma around cannabis treatment — but fails to look much outside its California bubble.
“I smell weed!” Ricki Lake walks onto the back patio of a South Austin home and laughs. It’s Monday night and the backyard is filled with people v...Read More
‘TransMilitary’ Is the LGBT Advocacy Film Middle America Needs to See
The documentary shines brightest when it shows trans soldiers simply going about their lives.
It’s April 27, 2016, and we’re in the living room of a modest home in Clarksville, Tennessee. Family photos hang on the wall, and there’s a framed paintin...Read More
‘Alt-Right: Age of Rage’ Is a Thoughtful Ode to Anti-Fascism
At SXSW, a new documentary dissects the ideology of those who battle the alt-right with as much precision as it exposes the hate of Richard Spencer and his ilk.
It’s August 12, 2017. We’re in the immediate aftermath of the deadly far-right rally in Charlottesville. We see police lights, caution tape, smashed-up cars...Read More
‘Lean on Pete’ Sheds Light on Youth Homelessness, but Not Its Main Character
Featured at SXSW this week, the film magnificently portrays the problems faced by homeless youth — but fails to develop its protagonist in a compelling way.
As attendees of this week’s SXSW festival rush from one sold-out event to the next, they’ll likely walk right past some of Austin’s approximately 2,000 ho...Read More