Film by Ben Masters features commentary from Democratic presidential contender Beto O'Rourke There has been no shortage of rhetoric around President Trump's signature campaign promise--to build a wall across the entire U.S.-Mexico border. What there has been a lack of is actual information about the impact of a wall were it to be built, and insight into the terrain it would cover. In the absence of that, the wall has remained a convenient slogan for Trump, an "idea" whose practicality was always beside the point. The new documentary The River and the Wall, directed by Ben Masters, explores the rugged country in question. The filmmaker set out with a group of friends to navigate the Rio Grande along the Texas-Mexico border and to talk with those most directly affected by immigration and the proposed wall. The film, which premiered at SXSW where it won the Louis Black "Lone Star" Award, opens in theaters May 3. In anticipation of that a trailer has dropped. Watch it below. I was a few feet away when a gunshot rang out on 6th Street in Austin One of my favorite activities during SXSW is catching the nightlife on 6th Street, which is packed with massive crowds, especially when the music portion of South By kicks into high gear. Thousands of festival attendees, and others drawn to Austin by the prospect of excitement, fill the road, which is blocked off to vehicle traffic during SXSW. Musicians, rappers, contortionists, ventriloquists, dancers and other buskers compete for attention in a carnival-life atmosphere. Early Sunday morning the upbeat party vibe was interrupted by a gunshot at the intersection of 6th and San Jacinto. I happened to be about 20 feet away when the shot rang out. When I heard the "pop" of gunfire I paused for a moment, trying to register what kind of sound I was hearing. The people around me seem to do likewise, and then after a beat somebody shouted something about a gun and the panicked crowd began rushing away from the scene. I had been shooting black and white stills, so the first few seconds of video I recorded (before I switched the setting on my camera to color) are B&W. As you can see, cops immediately swarmed a suspect. A person apparently hit with a bullet was partially shielded from my view by a tree. He was quickly treated by paramedics. Below is video I recorded in color. Below is a tweet issued by the Austin Police Department shortly after the incident.
They Shall Not Grow Old and Free Solo add to big totals Apollo 11 continues its impressive trajectory at the box office. The film directed by Todd Douglas Miller captured the top spot among documentaries over the weekend, earning $1.2 million, according to audience measurement firm comScore.
Apollo 11, which gives viewers a moment-by-moment experience of NASA's mission to land the first humans on the surface of the moon, has now made $5,477,092 total in just three weeks of release. It played on 588 screens, more than three times as many as the next widest nonfiction release, They Shall Not Grow Old. TSNGO came in second place over the weekend, adding another $97,152 to its take, comScore reported. Peter Jackson's film that brings World War I footage to life in 3D has made a remarkable 17,536,573 to date. Equally remarkable is the continued success of Free Solo, which came in third over the weekend, boosting its total earnings to $17,353,957 after an incredible 5-plus months in theaters. The documentary by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature last in February. Director Paul Solet recreated the steel-plated bulldozer Marvin Heemeyer welded together before his notorious rampage Narcissistic rage is a dangerous thing. The people of Granby, Colorado can attest to that. In 2004 a master welder and muffler shop owner named Marvin Heemeyer, aggrieved by ill treatment he felt several townspeople had visited on him, went on a rampage that a psychologist might argue was triggered by a narcissistic injury. Instead of dealing maturely and calmly with the slights he felt he had endured, Heemeyer stewed and plotted. His wounded ego, one can speculate, could not allow him to resolve the issues peacefully or simply let them go. Ultimately, Heemeyer decided to exact revenge on those he felt had wronged him by turning a bulldozer into a steel fortress on treads, which he drove through town wrecking buildings owned or occupied by his perceived antagonists. Director Paul Solet recounts the incident in his documentary Tread, which held its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The film feels like a nonfiction cross between Mad Max: Fury Road and Duel, with a touch of Wild Wild Country thrown in. Solet cast actors to play Heemeyer and other main characters, and he drew on audiotapes Marvin left behind explaining his motivations. Most astonishingly, the director created a replica of Heemeyer's "killdozer," down to the armor-plating. His approach makes for an immersive experience packed both with action and psychological nuance. Heemeyer's story is not black and white, and I'm probably not the only viewer who will feel some sympathy for him. He did not survive the incident, but in death has become something of a folk hero. The video below is from my conversation with Solet recorded at the Driskill Hotel in Austin. Audience awards will be announced in the coming days A select group of documentary filmmakers is celebrating recognition from the SXSW Film Festival. For Sama, directed by Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, won the Grand Jury Prize in Documentary Feature Competition. It tells the story of al-Kateab's efforts to document conditions in her hometown of Aleppo in the midst of Syria's brutal civil war. In the course of making the documentary over five years, al-Kateab "fell in love, got married and had a daughter all whilst filming the violence raging around her and in particular documenting the challenges the conflict imposed on women and children," SXSW programmers noted. Nothing will stop us to save the truth. Accepting the award, al-Kateab took aim at Syria's leader. "I just want to tell the man who is killing us every day in Syria, the dictator Bashar al-Assad, that nothing will stop us to save the truth," she said to applause. "This film tells the story about what's really happening in Syria and [we] always, as Syrians, dream of a free Syria without an Assad." Watts added, "This film shows that love and humanity and all the qualities that Waad and her family represent can be stronger than the weapons of tyrants and dictators. And that gives hope to all of us that are facing dictatorships and governments in all our countries around the world...Things can get better and they will." The River and the Wall won the Louis Black "Lone Star" Award, presented to a film that is shot largely in Texas and/or addresses Texas themes. The documentary by Ben Masters "follows five friends on an immersive adventure through the unknown wilds of the Texas borderlands as they travel 1200 miles from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico on horses, mountain bikes, and canoes." "Thank you to my team. I have the best team," Masters said as he accepted the award. "It's hard to find people that are willing to quit their jobs and go float down the river for three months. So, let's do it again!" That comment was lighthearted, but Masters also touched on current politics as he addressed the SXSW audience. "I would like to dedicate this award to the Rio Grande because it is, in my opinion, a river before it is a border," he observed. "And, in my opinion, that river and the landscapes that it goes through embodies the very best of what Texas is and I can't think of anything more un-Texan than allowing the federal government to come in and steal a bunch of Texans' land to build a wall through our national parks and our state parks." The Documentary Grand Jury also presented two special recognition awards. Nothing Fancy: Diana Kennedy won recognition for Excellence in Storytelling. Elizabeth Carroll directed the film about nonagenarian author Diana Kennedy, a British native who has made her life in Mexico and written numerous cookbooks about Mexican cuisine. "This woman's story is really impactful and powerful. She's a feminist for the ages and she's 96 years old now," Carroll said as she accepted the award. adding on a more political note, "The thing is, food doesn't have walls. In Mexico the food is beautiful, it's amazing, it's cultural, it's powerful and we don't need to separate ourselves that way. And I think food culture proves that around the world and especially when women are the ones telling the stories. Women are the ones who pass down food traditions and women are responsible for food culture, so let's keep supporting women and supporting food and having no walls between us." A Special Jury Recognition for Empathy and Craft went to Ernie & Joe, directed by Jenifer McShane. Her film centers on two remarkable police officers in San Antonio, Texas who specialize in law enforcement situations that involve individuals with mental health issues. Unlike police in many other cities, officers Ernie Stevens and Joe Smarro are skilled at defusing conflicts with mentally ill people. The Grand Jury wrote, “Everyone needs to pay the fuck attention to this deeply felt and expertly rendered documentary about two members of the San Antonio Police Department’s Mental Health Unit, who are changing how police see their own jobs with their embrace of making empathy and the individual the priority over force and violence.” "The reason I'm so so thrilled about this [award] is that I really believe we're in the midst of a real mental health crisis in this country and this story takes place in Texas but it's every single community across the country," McShane commented from the Paramount Theater stage. "We're all grappling in some way with [an] awful mental health crisis and we have a history of criminalizing that and so to follow two officers who can be an example to us of a different way to look at this--and really I think the film is really about communication and connection and how we can really start to look at each other." In the Documentary Shorts category, the top prize went to Exit 12, directed by Mohammad Gorjestani.
In their citation, jurors wrote, "We are giving the award to Exit 12 for its strong directorial vision and creative risk-taking. We celebrate Mo as an incredibly talented, energizing, and emerging voice in cinema and hope this award will help propel his already promising career to greater heights.” All Inclusive won a Special Jury Recognition honor in the doc shorts category. Corina Schwingruber Ilić directed the film. Jurors wrote, “Special Jury Recognition goes to All Inclusive, a wry look at our modern-day pursuit of happiness. Every shot is perfectly composed, the editing is spot-on, and it’s funny - delightfully depressing." |
AuthorMatthew Carey is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. His work has appeared on Deadline.com, CNN, CNN.com, TheWrap.com, NBCNews.com and in Documentary magazine. |