Articles tagged: SXSW
‘The Quarry’ Tells a Dark Morality Tale in a Modern Small Texas Town
A new film from Scott Teems, king of the Southern drama, follows a violent drifter who assumes the identity of a small-town preacher.
“You are no man of God,” a young Latino man named Valentín shouts from behind bars at a white man dressed as a minister in The Quarry. “You w...Read More
Seven Austin Workers on How They’re Scrambling After the SXSW Cancellation
Gig workers reported more than $2 million in lost wages after the festival was called off.
Thousands of Austinites depend on South by Southwest for income, and many are still reeling after the event was officially canceled last week due to coronavirus...Read More
‘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