Coming to HBO tonight, Monday, April 28: ALL ABOUT ANN: GOVERNOR RICHARDS OF THE LONE STAR STATE
Keith Patterson and Phillip Schopper’s tribute to the famed Texan politician premiered in an earlier version at Silverdocs in 2012. After being acquired by HBO, the project was remade, premiering earlier this month at Tribeca.
Patterson and Schopper’s film opens with the fiery silver-haired governor’s unforgettable speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention which rightly made her a national figure, before it travels further back in time to reveal Richards’ unlikely path to politics as a progressive Democrat in a traditionally Republican state. While interviews with admirers and colleagues provide occasional context, the late Richards’ herself often tells her own story throughout, via archival press interviews and a copious assortment of media appearances and often hilarious political speeches demonstrating her vision of the “New Texas.” The filmmakers construct a thoroughly engaging play-by-play of three pivotal elections – her election to State Treasurer (the first woman elected to statewide office in decades), her hard-fought gubernatorial run, and her Karl Rove-orchestrated re-election loss to George W Bush. New in this version is the addition of information about Richards’ life after elected office, campaigning for women politicians and working as a lobbyist – though the latter is given only cursory treatment – before her death due to esophageal cancer in 2006.
what (not) to doc 