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A classic road movie, Tracing Cowboys tells the story of two individuals searching for their own identity, while separated from each other. Ethan is a young Englishman obsessed with his hero John Wayne and intent on becoming a Country and Western singer. When his girlfriend Debi leaves without explanation, Ethan travels down to Mexico during the festival of the Day of the Dead intent on finding her. The only map he has is contained within photographs Debi has taken during her journey, and no matter how far he travels the whereabouts of Debi remain elusive, until her photos point Ethan toward the film's surprising and dramatic conclusion.
From Metropolitan Los Angeles, through the desert south west and down the scarcely populated Baja California inner coastline, the film explores the indigenous traditions of love, life and death in this haunting poetic romance. On the final day of shooting, lead actor Sacha Grunpeter was killed in a tragic car accident. Tracing Cowboys stands as a testament to his vision for the film, an unmistakable convergence of art and life.
