There are only a smattering of films and television programs that depict El Paso, and most of the ones that do focus on just one aspect of the city: Namely, its proximity to Juarez, and subsequently the drug violence nearby. That’s true of The Counselor, The Bridge, No Country For Old Men, and most other stories told about Texas’ sixth-largest city.
It’s not true of the forthcoming film Fort Bliss, though, which focuses on the Army post headquartered in the city that’s home to over 8,000 people. The movie stars Michelle Monaghan—coming off of a well-regarded, if somewhat thankless turn on HBO’s True Detective—along with Ron Livingston, Freddy Rodriguez, and more. Monaghan plays an Army medic who must readapt to life at home after returning from a deployment in Afghanistan—and who must learn to once more be a mother to her son.
The film’s director, Claudia Meyers, is no stranger to military themes. Her previous work includes the documentaries The Long Road Back, about soldiers injured in Iraq, and Women At War, about female soldiers, as well as an interactive feature produced for the Army called Outside The Wire. The film has yet to see an official release date, but for our readers outside of Texas, there’ll be an opportunity to see it at the Newport Film Festival in California later this month, as well as the G.I. Film Festival in Washington D.C. in May. Watch the trailer below:
