Award-Winning Film Made In and About Eagle Pass Comes Home For Premiere
Filmmakers Bill and Turner Ross will return to Eagle Pass, Texas, on Friday July 17, to show their award-winning documentary “WESTERN,” which they filmed in the town and Piedras Negras, Mexico. The film will screen at the Student Activities Center Fine Arts Auditorium, on July 17 at 7:30 pm, and will be followed by a Q & A with the directors. The premiere will be open to the public and free to the community (though due to language it is recommended for ages 18 and older). In partnership with the Arts Council of Eagle Pass, any donations will go towards a Chad Foster Memorial Scholarship for graduating seniors. Along with the Arts Council, the premiere will be sponsored and presented by IBC Bank and the Maverick County Junior Livestock Show Association.
The film first premiered at Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award, and was embraced by critics. Scott Foundas of Variety Magazine, in his review, called it “the Ross brothers’ elegiac portrait of modern frontier life,” “a sharply observed work that benefits from real local flavor and a gift for lyric image making.” Since Sundance, it has shown at a number of festivals and won more awards, including the Lewis Black Award for Best Texas Film at South by Southwest in Austin.
Filmed over the course of more than a year as they lived in Eagle Pass, “WESTERN” is Bill and Turner’s portrait of the town and Piedras Negras – both the region’s daily life and the more substantial happenings that affect it. Former Mayor Chad Foster, cattle rancher Martín Wall, and Martín’s daughter Brylyn Wall all figure prominently as characters; the audience sees much of what comes to pass in Eagle Pass through time spent with them. However, the brothers filmed all over the area: at parades, rodeos, bullfights, hog hunts, state fairs and even the Abrazo Ceremony. Moments in these places — along with many recognizable faces of the citizenry of Eagle Pass — show up in the film as well.
This is the third film by Bill & Turner Ross; their first, “45365,” won the Best Documentary Award at South by Southwest in 2009, and their second, “TCHOUPITOULAS,” premiered at the Texas festival as well, in 2012, before playing in theaters across the country. “WESTERN” brought them to Sundance for the first time, and garnered them attention that landed a fourth project on which they are currently working: a collaboration with David Byrne, formerly of the Talking Heads, on a concert/dance film.
“WESTERN” was a production of New Orleans company Court 13, who also produced the Oscar nominated film “BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.” Members of the production team will be in attendance as well. The premiere is being presented with the technical support of New Orleans-based non-profit Shotgun Cinema. The Arts Council of Eagle Pass, IBC Bank, and Maverick County Junior Livestock Show Association provided support for the screening, and the premiere is offered to the public in partnership with them.
Screening and Q & A will be free to public.
For any questions and inquiries, contact producer Michael Gottwald: Michael@court13.com, 804.317.0918
