Hummingbirds

Filmmaker S.R. Bindler profiles Texas contestants trying to win a truck by keeping one hand on it longer than everyone else.

The corruption runs deeper than you'd ever imagine. A multi-billion dollar industry you've never heard of. This is the world Patent Trolls thrive in: A world created for them by our own U. S. Patent system. You can be sued for clicking on a hyperlink, using your own scanner, or sharing your Wi-Fi! It sounds insane, but the reality is even crazier. Patent Trolls look for obvious ideas, patent them, and then sue anyone they claim is infringing on their idea. People's lives and businesses are being destroyed.. and they have no way out. “The Patent Scam” exposes the underbelly of this system, and the people that commit this practice.

Rosa is a Mexican woman who, at the age of 17, migrated illegally to Austin, Texas. Some years later, she was jailed under suspicion of murder and then taken to trial. This film demonstrates how the judicial process, the verdict, the separation from her family, and the helplessness of being imprisoned in a foreign country make Rosa’s story an example of the hard life of Mexican migrants in the United States.

Drawing on real-time, firsthand accounts and using official bodycam and audio, FRONTLINE, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reconstruct the chaotic response to the Uvalde school shooting and examine the missteps.

In the early 1830s Texas was about to explode. Although ruled by Mexico, the region was home to more than 20,000 U.S. settlers agitated by what they saw as restrictive Mexican policies. Mexican officials, concerned with illegal trading and immigration, were prepared to fight hard to keep the province under their control. Caught in the middle were the area's 4,000 Mexican Texans or Tejanos. With war on the horizon, the Tejanos had to pick a side. Many chose to fight with their Anglo neighbors against an army sent by Mexico City. The conflict pitted brother against brother and devastated the community. The Tejano gamble for a more prosperous future in an independent Texas proved tragic. Following the revolution, the Tejanos were overwhelmed by a surge of Anglo immigration -- leaving them foreigners in a land they had fought to defend.

Roam the Wild West frontier land of the Rio Grande’s Big Bend alongside its iconic animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions.

An unsung pioneer of 1970s Texas Progressive Country, Steven Fromholz had a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Revered by legends like Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett & John Denver, he remained commercially unknown. He sought redemption on the Rio Grande as a river guide until a debilitating stroke erased his musical memory, stripping Fromholz of his artistic identity. With an almost obsessive persistence bolstered by newly discovered archives as well as never-before-heard recordings, this intimate and impressionistic portrayal unveils the evolution of Fromholz, and reshapes the notion of success and artistic fortitude.

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.

The hottest summer on record left Austin ablaze and terrified, a city where heat hits hardest in at-risk neighborhoods and communities of color. In the aftermath, the Castañón family walks into the woods, asking: What is heat? At a city-run heat-mapping event, they trace invisible threats and exercise small acts of agency, exploring how conversation—at home, with neighbors, with scientists and policy-makers—shapes the way we live in a world remade by heat.

This U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) video uses expert testimony and computer-animated reenactments to describe and discuss its detailed investigation into the March 23 2005 explosion of the ISOM (isomerization) unit at the BP (British Petroleum) refinery at Texas City, Texas. The explosion killed 15 workers, injured 180 others, and cost BP billions of dollars.

"This Is What Trans Punk Looks Like" is a documentary about the transgender punk culture in Texas and the beauty of community. It features several interviews with trans individuals within the scene, talking about their childhood experiences, Texas' political climate, and what punk means to them.

A flamboyant restaurateur, a good ol' boy and a political ingénue, walk into a small town political contest and compete head to head to head, for the non-paid mayoral seat of the Tomato Republic. What happens next is anyones guess. The only thing that could slow this race down is a freight train. Let the takeover begin. - Written by Whitney Graham Carter

One night in November 1976, after his car breaks down on a road outside Dallas, Randall Dale Adams accepts a ride from teenager David Harris. Harris is driving a stolen vehicle and, later that night, when Dallas police officer Robert Wood pulls the car over to check its headlights, he is shot and killed. A jury believes Adams is the killer, but stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.

In the United States, there is an active shooter incident every 12 days. In Memoriam shows the wrenching perspective of wounded survivors, grieving relatives, and heroes of the horrific attacks at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church in Texas, and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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.

The extraordinary story of a world-renowned patent attorney in Sugar Land, Texas who, at 57, came out as a trans woman and is now navigating LGBTQ+ issues and fighting for trans rights in the vortex of Texas conservatism, as she and her family challenge the idea of what modern love looks like.

In Texas’ state-designated BBQ capital, two legendary Lockhart families run the town’s most iconic barbecue joints. Decades of interfamily feuds split them apart, with tensions still smoldering, and one conflict burning hotter than ever. Now, these famed establishments face a new challenge: reclaiming their spots on the coveted Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ list, all while contending with a rising star shaking up the scene. This feature-length documentary explores the town’s well-seasoned culture, sizzling BBQ ecosystem, and the family rivalries that have marinated in Lockhart lore for generations. Watch Family Beef starting June 5 on the free KXAN+ app and online at KXAN.com.

A visually compelling look at America's Lone Star State, Texas. Originally filmed in the IMAX format, this film captures the state through breathtaking aerial photography stunning moving pictures of landscapes, cattle, horses, and cowboys. It's Texas like you've never seen before. From the Panhandle to the Rio Grande and from West Texas to the Gulf of Mexico, the Texas landscape is as diverse as the people who live there. Discover how Texas innovation and ingenuity have led the way in exploration, from the depths of the Earth to the far reaches of outer space. This larger-than-life movie explores the boundless horizons and big dreams of the great state of Texas. Funded by the Texas State History Museum Foundation, Southwest Airlines, ExxonMobil, and the State of Texas.

The film explores Lubbock, Texas, deep in the heart of the Bible Belt, which boasts more churches per capita than anywhere else in the US. (It also has the most fast food restaurants and the second largest one-storey shopping mall in America.) Here, teenagers are expected to take purity pledges, promising to remain virgins until they get married. But how hard is it for these teenagers to resist temptation, and what are the consequences if they don't? And how does the climate of fear and misinformation impact on their lives, ambitions and aspirations? The programme reveals that, despite the push for abstinence, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the whole of America. The abstinence movement studiously ignores the reality of most teenagers' lives. But in Texas, no matter what the consequences, it looks as though virginity pledges are here to stay.

The Last of the Little Breweries, a student film documenting the history of the Spoetzel Brewery in Lavaca County, Texas, was produced and directed by University of Texas at Austin student Frank Binney (later a professor in the Radio-Television-Film Department) in 1976. Tracing Bavarian-born brewmaster Kosmos Spoetzel's journey through Egypt, Canada, and San Francisco before landing in Shiner, Texas, in 1915, it won an Achievement Award in documentary at the 4th Annual Student Film Awards (now known as the Student Academy Awards) in 1977.