For the last half century, the little town of Luling, Texas has held an annual Watermelon Thump Festival – and its own world championship watermelon seed spitting competition. This short documentary is about both the contest and the chief seed spitting judge, Phil, an underemployed, over-stimulated, former expatriate, who’s come home after years abroad in Europe.
A documentary film exploring what it takes to build a new, hopeful vision for democracy against enormous odds. It’s an underdog story, told through the lives of candidates and organizers during the statewide 2022 election who tell an unexpected story of persistence, community, and progress in an unlikely place.
Underground poker player Bobby Diamonds enters the spotlight in this hallucinatory, hilarious, and heartfelt documentary. Directed, Produced, and Edited by Robert Aaron Mitchell Executive Producer Sarah Dillard Mitchell Winner of Best Short Documentary Tokyo International Short Film Festival (2022) Winner of Best Short Documentary Venice Fullshot Film Festival (2022) Official Selection Munich New Wave Short Film Festival (2022) Official Selection Toronto Smartphone Film Festival (2023)
A New York City couple decide to take a getaway trip to Texas, but unknowingly cross paths with the wrong kind of people.
After a party gone awry, Melody wants nothing more than a pack of cigarettes. What was meant to be a quick stop on her way home turns into anything but after a chance encounter with her high-school boyfriend, Jonathan. Over the course of a single night, the pair are forced to ask what went so wrong with their relationship and what would happen if they tried again.
For the three-channel video Salidas y Entradas Exits and Entrances, artists Jessica Hankey and Erin Johnson worked with applied theatre facilitator Gina Sandi Diaz to offer performance workshops at public daytime senior centers managed by the city of El Paso’s Parks and Recreation Department. With the senior center as a stage, the elders who participated in the workshops enacted social, political and geographical imaginaries for the camera. Through improvisation and performance exercises drawn from the work of Viola Spolin and Augusto Boal, themes emerge: the dynamics of the U.S.- Mexico border, the desire to be seen, the role of musical storytelling as a soundtrack to daily life, power dynamics, and gender as performance. As the boundaries between rehearsal, improvisation, and performance blur, the ways in which individual lives and sociopolitical realities merge together are foregrounded.
When an ancient being infiltrates an imaginative young man's family ranch, he must take it upon himself to discover who can be trusted and who is turning them against each other.
This documentary explores two horrific stories. With haunting interviews with the killers, plus emotional exchanges with the daughters.
Moving Together is a celebratory love letter to music and dance that brims with kinetic life and energy. This documentary explores the intricate collaboration between dancers and musicians, moving seamlessly between Flamenco, Modern, and New Orleans Second Line.
Penny may have found her soulmate in Paul in Las Vegas. But on their drive back to her home in Houston, Texas, they begin to realize maybe they don't know as much about each other as they thought.
In 1972, Moody Anderson bought a ghost town and brought it back to life. Nearly four decades later, Moody faces the heart-wrenching task of dismantling and selling his collection of Americana artifacts used in hundreds of films, from Lonesome Dove and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the Coen Brothers' remake of True Grit.
This doc investigates the odd occurrences that have happened for decades at a creek in Texas, which was an Ancient Native American burial ground.
The film is a documentary on the day April 17, 2013, when West, a small farm community in Texas was changed forever by a devastating explosion.
Satellites in Texas is a feature documentary following musician Boome as he copes with his brothers sudden death. It follows his humble beginnings as he climbs the ladder of the music industry. Raised by a single immigrant mother Boome defies the odds and starts to scratch the surface of success. Faced by hard decisions to continue to pursue his dream, Boome takes us on the road.
Hurricane Harvey is one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in US history. Floodwaters from the storm have engulfed entire Texas cities leaving thousands of people and animals displaced and homeless. The documentary chronicles the heroic efforts of rescuers and volunteers who lend a helping hand to the animals displaced by the recent storm.
Grindcore Vacation melds the expository documentary, diary film, and live performance footage to produce a portrait of the musicians who play grindcore, an extreme sub-genre of punk/metal characterized by high speed and full volume. Shot during a weekend trip from Victoria BC to Dallas TX for a single DIY concert, it interviews members of Deterioration, Cognizant, and Imperial Slaughter. Live concert footage combines with interviews and Super 8mm film to create an impression of the people who play grindcore, why they love the genre, and their experiences as practitioners of the niche style.
A short Doc/Music Collage of the DIY shows at Taqueria El Picante. Featuring bands from all around DFW, Houston, Chicago, and Canada too. During editing, it became a story about Alli, Pat, and good ass music.
American Ocelot tells the story of one of the most endangered and beautiful wild cats in the United States — a species so elusive that high-quality images and video have never been captured until now. With fewer than 100 individuals remaining in the US, the ocelot is critically endangered, genetically isolated, and only exists in Texas.
"Stolen Education" documents the untold story of Mexican-American school children who challenged discrimination in Texas schools in the 1950s and changed the face of education in the Southwest.
When Ed's best friend, Liam, takes him on a surprise camping trip in a secluded desert, he becomes suspicious about Liam's true intentions.