Western The Garden and the Wilderness To Make Texas Debut at Hill Country Film Festival

Film by Director Craig Whitney Comes To Austin Area

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FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS (04/21/2012)(readMedia)-- Better Archangel Pictures is pleased to announce that the company's latest film production, The Garden and the Wilderness, will make its Texas debut next month at the Hill Country Film Festival in Fredericksburg, Texas. The Garden and the Wilderness premiered in September 2011 at the Rome International Film Festival.

A poetic re-imagining of the Western genre, The Garden and the Wilderness examines the intersection between the roles of work and family in our lives, and how they each can both help and hinder our ability to deal with life's hardships. After 30 years spent caring for a Texas hunting estate, ranch hand Will James must confront the prospect of moving on from his life's work when he learns that the property will be sold following the owner's death. A final visit from the late owner's son offers him a chance to reflect on his past, and to figure out what to make of himself in the uncertain future that awaits his family.

"The Hill Country Film Festival is one of the most exciting young festivals in Texas and the cast and crew of The Garden and the Wilderness is proud to have been invited to screen our film there," says the film's director, Craig Whitney. "This is a film that has deep roots in central Texas, from its characters to the crew that made it, and we could not be more happy that it will make its Texas premiere so close to where it was born."

The Garden and the Wilderness was written and directed by Craig Whitney, whose last ?lm, Harvest Home, premiered in 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by Stephanie Huettner (The Peacemaker, Mighty Mutant Mollusks) and photographed by Christopher Rusch (Closing Night), The Garden and the Wilderness stars Larry Grant Harbin, DJ Economou, Terri Merritt Bennett, Billy Kring and Julia Lorenz.

Whitney says that the film's central Texas locations play an important role in establishing the themes of the movie.

"Many of our cast and crew members come from the Hill Country and have witnessed similar stories to the one told in The Garden and the Wilderness, of ranches that are sold in bankruptcy or broken up. I felt that it was very important to film this movie in the Texas countryside, to depict the authentic environments in which these characters live."

"In some ways, The Garden and the Wilderness carries a lot of the traditional themes of the Western film, but in a way that undoubtedly reflects the realities of the 21st century. The fact is, we just don't have gunfights at the O.K. Corral anymore; the pioneering spirit of the frontier west is mostly irrelevant to the lives that we lead today. If Wyatt Earp or John Wayne's Ethan Edwards from The Searchers were alive today, I imagine they would be leading lives and experiencing the same kind of struggles that Will James has experienced in his life."

The Garden and the Wilderness will be screening in block 2 of the Hill Country Film Festival at the at the Stagecoach Theater in Fredericksburg, TX on Friday, April 27 at 10:30am. Festival badges, day passes, and indiividual tickets for the block 2 screening can be purchased online at the Hill Country Film Festival website.

For the latest updates on The Garden and the Wilderness at the Hill Country Film Festival, please visit us online at the Better Archangel Pictures Facebook page.

About Better Archangel Pictures

Better Archangel Pictures was founded in 2008 in Austin, Texas by writer and director Craig Whitney. For more information about The Garden and the Wilderness and other Better Archangel Pictures film, please email info@betterarchangel.com or visit us online at betterarchangel.com.