WINNER OF SXSW FILM 2019
LOUIS BLACK ‘LONE STAR’ AWARD
‘THE RIVER AND THE WALL’
DOCUMENTARY RECEIVED STANDING OVATIONS
AT SXSW SCREENINGS
WATCH THE TRAILER NOW: https://youtu.be/nOwFV4S1I-k
“VISUALLY STUNNING AND POLITICALLY SHARP.”
“Visually gorgeous and acutely political, it is a vivid, engaging nature film with a message.”
“Immerses viewers in the natural world and makes an effective case for keeping it that way.”
– Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter
“ONE OF THIS YEAR’S MUST-SEE MOVIES.”
“It is a thrilling and gorgeous tale of adventure, with humor and flat-out wonder at nature’s beauty.”
– Charles Ealy, Austin American-Statesman
“ONE OF THE BEST DOCUMENTARIES OF 2019.”
”★★★★★”
“The River and the Wall is going to be one of the most-talked about documentaries of 2019 because of its timeliness in the current political environment…If there’s a film that’s going to make you angry this year, let it be The River and the Wall. If this film doesn’t make you angry, I don’t know what will!”
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
Timely film takes audiences an a journey along the U.S.-Mexico border to better understand where the physical border wall, proposed by the Trump Administration, would go and the impacts it would have
The timely new documentary feature The River and The Wall (www.theriverandthewall.com), from award-winning director Ben Masters (Unbranded) and Emmy-winning producer Hillary Pierce (Tower) just had its world premiere at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival.
Distributor Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, plans a North American theatrical and on demand release starting Friday, May 3, 2019.
The River and The Wall follows five friends on a 1,200 mile journey along the US-Mexico border from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico. Riding horses, bicycles, and paddling canoes, they travel along the Rio Grande and meet with landowners, border patrol agents, congressmen on both sides of the aisle, immigrants, wildlife biologists, and folks on either side of the Rio to better understand where a physical border wall would go and the impacts it would have.
The immigrant stories of two of the characters are interwoven through the journey, humanizing the controversial topic of immigration, while they travel through a landscape that could soon crumble to a wall intended to keep them out. Told through stunning cinematography of landscapes and cultures rarely visited and often demonized, The River and The Wall takes viewers on an unforgettable border journey into the most controversial and talked about topic in the world today: the border wall. You will never look at the border the same again.
“When we started filming The River and The Wall two years ago when the “build that wall” rhetoric just began, we had no idea that the issue would blow up into a government shutdown and one of the most controversial topics in the world,” said director Ben Masters. “We’ve spent the past two years documenting the border, travelled every mile of the Texas-Mexico border on bikes, horses, and canoes, and met with dozens of people on both sides of the Rio Grande to make a film that shows what the borderlands actually look like, how a wall would actually work, and how it would impact immigration, landowners, water access, wildlife, and border culture.”
Masters added: “We interviewed border patrol agents, immigrants, ranchers, wildlife biologists, Republican and Democratic congressmen, Mexicans, and Americans to hopefully give an accurate portrayal of the border and let the audience decide for themselves if a physical border wall is a good way to approach our immigration and border security challenges. At a time when there’s so much division, ignorance, and false reporting about the border, I’m excited to release the film and allow the incredible landscapes and people there to speak for themselves.”
The River and The Wall features, among others, former Democratic Congressman and newly-announced presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke as well as sitting Republican Congressman Will Hurd.
