Back to selection
Trailer Watch: Carpet Cowboys Doc Executive Produced by John Wilson
Having its world premiere at the inaugural edition of the New/Next Film Festival in Baltimore later this month, a trailer arrives for Carpet Cowboys, the feature debut of co-directors Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier. The doc, executive produced by John Wilson (who appeared on our 25 New Faces of Film list in 2016 before embarking on his excellent How To HBO series, which just kicked off its third and final season) and released by MEMORY, takes a sprawling look at the “Carpet Capital of the World” located in Dalton, Georgia before tackling a worldwide exploration of expat culture and American identity.
An official synopsis on the MEMORY site reads:
The psychedelic carpets lining our hotel hallways, casinos, and convention centers can be traced to one town: Dalton, Georgia, the “Carpet Capital of the World.” In this bastion of American manufacturing we find an interwoven set of locals who are the unsung creators and developers behind the majority of the country’s carpets, always looking at the ground for their next big break. Among them is Roderick James, a Scottish expat and freelance textile designer living his life as a modern-day cowboy with an ambitious slew of eclectic business ventures. Through Rod’s journey chasing after The American Dream and the experiences of his peers in Dalton, Carpet Cowboys explores the tensions between personal and national identity, and the rapidly changing global economic model of the United States that too often leaves so many behind. Where does the myth of American identity begin and where does it end, and who ultimately gets to cash in?
Carpet Cowboys will open at Metrograph in New York City on August 25 and Los Angeles’s BRAIN DEAD STUDIOS on September 15, with select cities to follow. Watch the trailer above.
