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.

Silicon Cowboys (2016)
Launched in 1982 by three friends in a Houston diner, Compaq Computer set out to build a portable PC to take on IBM, the world’s most powerful tech company. Many had tried cloning the industry leader’s code, only to be trounced by IBM and its high-priced lawyers. Explore the remarkable David vs. Goliath story, and eventual demise, of Compaq, an unlikely upstart who altered the future of computing and helped shape the world as we know it today.
Executing the Insane: The Case of Scott Panetti (2007)
Scott Panetti was tried for the capital murder of his parents-in-law on September 8, 1992 in Gillespie County, Texas. He was subsequently sentenced to death on September 22, 1995. Panetti has an extensive history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, manic depression, auditory hallucinations and paranoia. Panetti was hospitalized, both voluntarily and involuntarily for mental illness fourteen times in six different hospitals before his arrest for capital murder in 1992. Following his conviction, Panetti’s former wife, and daughter of the victims, Sonja Alvarado, filed a petition stating that Panetti never should have been tried for the crimes as he was suffering from paranoid delusions at the time of the killings.

Print It Black (2024)
After the Robb Elementary school shooting in Texas, local Uvalde Leader-News journalists are left to report on the fallout – and on one of their staff members. Reporter Kimberly Rubio rises to national prominence as an advocate for gun reform after her ten-year-old daughter, Lexi, is killed in the shooting. Through the journalists’ reporting, we witness the social fabric of this small Texas town unravel as Kimberly and other victims’ families search for accountability from law enforcement and local leaders. The documentary also shines a light on the critical role of community journalism, at a time when local newspapers are folding rapidly across the country.

Ripple (2024)
Rae Ripple, a welder from the outskirts of West Texas transforms neglected metal into works of art and in the process finds healing from her traumatic past.

The Wild Forest (2021)
“Let nature be nature” is the philosophy of the Bavarian Forest National Park. Despite massive resistance, this vision has become a groundbreaking showcase project. Because humans do not interfere with nature, the former commercial forests grow into a primeval forest, a unique ecosystem and a refuge for biodiversity. People from all over the world come here. They are looking for answers to the question of why we need more wild nature and what we can learn from it to preserve forests for future generations in times of climate change.

The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.
I Was a Soldier (1970)
Three young Texans try to adjust to small-town life after experiencing the emotional toll of combat in the jungles of Vietnam.

My Dad's on Death Row (2016)
This documentary explores two horrific stories. With haunting interviews with the killers, plus emotional exchanges with the daughters.

Chasing Bonnie & Clyde (2015)
'Don't build prisons, they cost too much!' In this era of Great Recession, the conservative and tough-on-crime State of Texas takes an unprecedented path by becoming a social justice leader with programs that rehabilitate offenders. Looks like rape, abuse and death are no longer parts of the solution for modern-day Bonnie and Clyde...

Voices of Central (2022)
Students of the high school show choir Voices of Central take a look back on the emotional journey they endured during the 2021-2022 school year.

My Life Inside (2007)
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.

Tarnation (2003)
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.

A Silver Odyssey: 25 Years of Houston Astros Baseball (1987)
A look back at the history of major league baseball in Houston, starting with its humble beginnings at Colt .45 stadium, to the massive grandeur of the Astrodome and the birth of the Astros. Enjoy many of the great moments in Houston's baseball history including Ken Johnson's no-hitter, which he lost, Don Wilson's spectacular performances on the mound, and Nolan Ryan's triumph in overtaking Walter Johnson's strikeout record, just to name a few. Relive the story of the Astros as told by the stars who experienced it: like Rusty Staub, Joe Morgan and Mike Scott. From an expansion team in 1962 to today's National League Western Division Champions, "A Silver Odyssey" captures a quarter-century of history, humor and excitement.
Drive-by Shooting (1994)
With a movie camera mounted in the passenger seat of his car, Andy Anderson drove around filming his local neighbourhood of Fort Worth, Texas. The procession of sunny lawns and quiet houses has a day-dreamy innocence, however on the soundtrack, a narrator recites from the police records of over 600 crimes committed in the area. Domestic violence, petty theft, drug related assault; the list of vicious and hapless actions unfolds randomly, "a woman said her husband punched her in the face when he asked her for ten dollars and she didn't have the money. theft; two lawnmowers.." In a powerful counterpoint of sound and image Drive By Shooting creates a two hour-long surveillance film that misses all the action, yet evokes a sense of vulnerability on the streets and violence behind closed doors.

THIS IS WHAT TRANS PUNK LOOKS LIKE (2024)
"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.

Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary (1997)
Filmmaker S.R. Bindler profiles Texas contestants trying to win a truck by keeping one hand on it longer than everyone else.

Big Bend: The Wild Frontier of Texas (2021)
Roam the Wild West frontier land of the Rio Grande’s Big Bend alongside its iconic animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions.

Stolen Education (2013)
"Stolen Education" documents the untold story of Mexican-American school children who challenged discrimination in Texas schools in the 1950s and changed the face of education in the Southwest.

Two Towns of Jasper (2002)
Using two separate filmmaking teams (an all-white crew filming white residents and an all-black camera crew filming black residents), TWO TOWNS OF JASPER captures very different racial views by townsfolk in Jasper, Texas, the location for a racially motivated murder of an African American man in 1998.

Texas, USA (2023)
A documentary film exploring what it takes to build a new, hopeful vision for democracy against enormous odds. It’s an underdog story, told through the lives of candidates and organizers during the statewide 2022 election who tell an unexpected story of persistence, community, and progress in an unlikely place.