Texas isn't what you think—and the people fighting to prove it will wreck your stereotypes.
The first of two Latinas to represent Texas in Congress, Veronica Escobar, and the only African-American woman to run for city council in Austin in 2018, Natasha Harper-Madison, lead a diverse group of progressive voices across Texas as they fight decades of institutional racism and policies of discrimination along the border. The battle over immigrant rights, land seizures to build the border wall, and the troubled racial history of the state form the backdrop to a film that explores how a place once known for its reactionary politics is becoming more liberal, more diverse—and more at risk for violent conflict.
Direction
Ford lets his subjects breathe—no narrator spoon-feeding here.
Cinematography
Border landscapes that feel like characters with trauma.
Editing
Seamlessly weaves archival racism with present-day resistance.
Director
Kevin Ford
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film captures a pivotal pre-pandemic moment when Texas progressives still believed demographics alone could deliver political transformation—optimism that 2020 and 2024 would partially shatter.
Director Kevin Ford spent three years embedded with subjects, originally planning a short—until the border wall emergency declarations made withdrawal impossible.
US
