El Paso takes center stage in HBO documentary 'God Save Texas: La Frontera'

El Paso's border and immigration issues are front and center in a new documentary, "God Save Texas: La Frontera," that will debut on HBO.

The documentary, directed by Austin-based and native El Pasoan Iliana Sosa, will be shown at a premiere screening Friday, Feb. 23, at the Philanthropy Theater at the Plaza Theatre. Sosa will attend the free showing. The screening will be at 7 p.m. A Q&A will follow.

The film also will make its Sundance Film Festival debut and is part of a trilogy. It will debut on HBO on Feb. 27. The film and the other two — "God Saves Texas: The Price of Oil," and "God Save Texas: Hometown Prison," will stream on Max on Feb. 27.

Sosa, one of three Texan filmmakers working on the various documentaries, returned to her native El Paso to tell the stories of the border. The other filmmakers went to Huntsville and Houston. The documentary trilogy is inspired by the book "God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State" by Lawrence Wright.

In a Zoom interview, Sosa said she has done fiction work before, but she finds herself drawn to documentaries and work that feels or is personal.

"A lot of my recent work is documentary. I did a feature called "What We Leave Behind," about my grandfather, who was a bracero and would frequently go from El Paso to Albuquerque but lived in Durango and Mexico. At the age of 89, he decided to build a house in Durango."

In the new documentary, Sosa looks at the relationships along the border and the blurred edges where first-generation immigrant children straddle two cultures, in El Paso and Juárez.

"Where once immigrants were brought in as legal guest workers, now border policies and Covid regulations restrict the flow of traffic, impacting the lives of many families who live on opposite sides of the divide; recent gentrification further risks obliterating historic Mexican neighborhoods and lifestyles," states the documentary release.

"I love hearing people's stories. I love the beauty that lies in everyday people's stories. I grew up working class and I'm first generation Mexican-American. I am a daughter of immigrants and there is a lot of resilience there, alot of fortitude and I feel a lot of pride in that. Somehow, the stories that I have been telling as a documentarian, I feel very close to, so I find the stories empowering."

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Sosa, also an assistant professor in the Film Department at the University of Texas in Austin, also feels that it is a pivotal time in the state of Texas and in the country to tell stories of immigrants and of those working on the ground.

"I hope that people start looking at the Frontera and the border in a different way, not just black and white terms - that we are not all this or that. That we start having conversations in more depth and complexity and that people start waking up and realizing that we are pivotal. We have a lot of power in our words, stories and in our vote," she said.

The documentary shows the fluidity between the two countries and their unique hybridity. Among the stories and El Pasoans being featured are USA Today and former El Paso Times immigration reporter Lauren Villagran, sharing her experience during the 2020 pandemic and the challenges of having a partner who lived in Juárez. Also, Fernando Garcia and the Border Network for Human Rights are highlighted for their event "Hugs not Walls," where they facilitate the reunion of families with immigrants who cannot cross the border.

The film also includes Sosa's mother, El Pasoan historian David Romo talking about the bath riots, and how insecticides were used on braceros before crossing into the United States, and former El Paso Times reporter Monica Ortiz Uribe who covered femicides in Juárez and talks about the day she was at the Walmart shooting in 2019.

"The film gives a complex portrait. I think it's one that we can't deny our history. It's important to pay attention and also how has the city come together in times of like the Walmart shooting and the migrant crisis. It's a complex portrait of a complicated city," she said.

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María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; [email protected], @EPTMaria on Twitter; eptmariacg on TikTok.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: HBO documentary, 'God Save Texas: La Frontera,' highlights El Paso