AUSTIN, TEXAS — There's always that one documentary making a world premiere at SXSW that generates the most buzz given a compelling subject matter and/or its topical messaging. This year, that doc could very well be "The River and the Wall" by Austin-based director Ben Masters.

Scheduled for a major theatrical release for late spring after its global premiere at SXSW on March 9, the Gravitas Ventures film explores the U.S.-Mexico border with a focus on where a physical border wall championed by the Trump Administration would be located and the impacts it would have on the region. Featured will be an interview with former state congressman and potential presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke of El Paso, Texas, whose profile was raised after nearly beating incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in a strong showing in deeply red Texas (he lost by a mere three percentage points). The doc has already garnered the attention of some critics, including Danielle Solzman of Solzy at the Movies, who writes: "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!"

The timely new documentary feature The River and The Wall (www.theriverandthewall.com), from award-winning Austin-based director Ben Masters (Unbranded) and Emmy-winning Austin-based producer Hillary Pierce (Tower) will have its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival this Saturday, March 9, before its theatrical release. Distributor Gravitas Ventures plans a major U.S. theatrical release to more than 100 theaters nationwide starting late Spring 2019. Gravitas previously released Masters' award-winning documentary feature Unbranded that followed four young cowboys as they hatched a plot to adopt, train, and ride a string of wild mustangs 3,000 miles from Mexico to Canada through the wildest terrain of the American West.

For its part, 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," according to a press advisory. "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."

Photo courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

Public Screenings at SXSW Film 2019

Saturday, March 9, 2019, at 6:45 p.m.

Rollins Theatre at the Long Center

Director, film team, and film subjects in-person.

Plus special guests. Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at 11 a.m.

Alamo Ritz 2

Director, film team, and film subjects in-person.