Tracing Cowboys

Running time: 101 mins

SPECIAL WORK IN PROGRESS SCREENING

It is rare that Cinequest shows a work in progress, but Jason Wulfsohn?s Tracing Cowboys is one of those extraordinary films; a shining example of the power of cinematic artistry to convey a story of beauty, one of life and death, and one that speaks to us all.

Imagine receiving pictures from the most important person in your life. You would feel happy, hopeful and excited. Imagine now that this person left you, vulnerable, alone and confused. These same pictures become snapshots of a life that you no longer understand, one that you are not a part of.

Debi has left Ethan without explanation. She travels to a small village in Mexico hoping to piece together her life, find out where she went wrong, and make peace with herself. Debi?s pictures become a map for Ethan. He uses them to find her. Along the way, he begins to understand her journey, and in his search for Debi, Ethan examines his own life, but will the answers be enough for him, and will he find what he is looking for in the end?

Reminiscent of Terence Malick?s Badlands, Tracing Cowboys is a meditative road movie whose characters are all, in their own way, searching: for answers, for love and for themselves. Like Debi?s pictures, we are offered brief snapshots into the lives of the young protagonists, just as in every relationship, when we only know what we see and must piece together the rest.

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