Trailer For Richard Linklater's Documentary Trilogy GOD SAVE TEXAS
HBO has released the first trailer for the upcoming documentary trilogy titled God Save Texas. The three-part doc takes a deep dive into the lives of Texans living in three different cities. The series is inspired by Lawrence Wright's book of the same name and follows three filmmakers' distinct perspectives on their own Texas hometowns.
The three film segments were directed by Texan filmmakers Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Alex Stapleton (Reggie), and Iliana Sosa (What We Leave Behind), and it’s “a personal and panoramic journey through one of the most controversial states in the union. Returning to their hometowns to shed light on an underrepresented story, the filmmakers chronicle the complex history of each city, exploring how it intertwines with their own provenance and evolution, and placing it in the larger picture of America today.”
Linklater's film is titled God Save Texas: Hometown Prison, and it’s set in Huntsville. Stapleton's film is God Save Texas: The Price of Oil which is set in Houston. Then there’s Sosa's film, God Save Texas: La Frontera, which is set in El Paso.
The description reads: “Texas is a study in contradictions – a red state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in more than twenty years, yet a state in which minorities form a majority and whose blue cities are some of the more diverse in the nation. God Save Texas puts viewers on the ground with true Texans – unspooling narratives of diversity and inequalities as well as beauty within communities, specifically examining the personal toll that the prison system, oil business, and border laws have on people in these communities. Texas filmmakers Richard Linklater, Alex Stapleton, and Iliana Sosa visit Huntsville, Houston, and El Paso, respectively, using their personal relationships with these cities to paint contemporary portraits of a state that still echoes our nation’s past and warns of its possible future.”
HBO will release the God Save Texas documentary trilogy on Max on February 27th, 2024.