A van carrying five teenagers hurtles toward a distant horizon, chasing the promise of America. Here, in Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross’ Gasoline Rainbow (2023), a community is forged from a joint passed, a shoulder leaned on, and a concord of voices raised in song. It’s an odyssey of discovery for cast, filmmakers, and viewers alike; the latest in a cinematic project that has continually abraded the line between fiction and nonfiction filmmaking.
An all-embracing compendium of their hometown of Sidney, Ohio, the Ross Brothers’ first feature 45365 (2009) is the epicenter of an oeuvre that interrogates the American experience through the microcosm of community. But the filmmakers’ insight and empathy isn’t just confined to home turf. The twin border towns of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico serve as staging posts for an examination of cross-cultural collaboration in Western (2015), a documentary that sizes up a nation’s mythic silhouettes as seen through a fug of cartel violence.
Just as Sidney couldn’t contain the duo’s peregrinating curiosity, neither could the traditional parameters of documentary. With their modern fairy tale Tchoupitoulas (2012), the siblings combined a predetermined structure with the spontaneity of improvisation, following three young brothers across a night in New Orleans’ French Quarter. In Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (2020), a Las Vegas dive bar—constructed in Louisiana—is the setting for a wistful ode to barflies everywhere. Staging an all-day bender for the bar’s purported closing night, the Ross Brothers’ keen eye for casting professionals and nonprofessionals pays dividends in this compassionate portrait of social and political disillusion, of communities lost and found.
For all the elegiac qualities of Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, the films in this collection don’t deal in closure. Instead they’re charged with a state of flux. For the Ross Brothers, much like the teens in Gasoline Rainbow, every ending is a new beginning, with unmapped frontiers on the other side of that distant horizon.

A van carrying five teenagers hurtles toward a distant horizon, chasing the promise of America. Here, in Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross&#8217; Gasoline Rainbow (2023), a community is forged from a joint passed, a shoulder leaned on, and a concord of voices raised in song. It&#8217;s an odyssey of discovery for cast, filmmakers, and viewers alike; the latest in a cinematic project that has continually abraded the line between fiction and nonfiction filmmaking.
An all-embracing compendium of their hometown of Sidney, Ohio, the Ross Brothers&#8217; first feature 45365 (2009) is the epicenter of an oeuvre that interrogates the American experience through the microcosm of community. But the filmmakers&#8217; insight and empathy isn&#8217;t just confined to home turf. The twin border towns of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico serve as staging posts for an examination of cross-cultural collaboration in Western (2015), a documentary that sizes up a nation&#8217;s mythic silhouettes as seen through a fug of cartel violence.
Just as Sidney couldn&#8217;t contain the duo&#8217;s peregrinating curiosity, neither could the traditional parameters of documentary. With their modern fairy tale Tchoupitoulas (2012), the siblings combined a predetermined structure with the spontaneity of improvisation, following three young brothers across a night in New Orleans&#8217; French Quarter. In Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (2020), a Las Vegas dive bar&#8212;constructed in Louisiana&#8212;is the setting for a wistful ode to barflies everywhere. Staging an all-day bender for the bar&#8217;s purported closing night, the Ross Brothers&#8217; keen eye for casting professionals and nonprofessionals pays dividends in this compassionate portrait of social and political disillusion, of communities lost and found.
For all the elegiac qualities of Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, the films in this collection don&#8217;t deal in closure. Instead they&#8217;re charged with a state of flux. For the Ross Brothers, much like the teens in Gasoline Rainbow, every ending is a new beginning, with unmapped frontiers on the other side of that distant horizon.

Chasing Rainbows: Films by the Ross Brothers

CHASING RAINBOWS: FILMS BY THE ROSS BROTHERS

Abrading the line between fiction and nonfiction filmmaking, this collection takes to the road with the Ross Brothers for a journey into the heart of the American experience. Insightful, empathetic, and searingly authentic, these enchanting films are all-embracing odes to communities lost and found.

Abrading the line between fiction and nonfiction filmmaking, this collection takes to the road with the Ross Brothers for a journey into the heart of the American experience. Insightful, empathetic, and searingly authentic, these enchanting films are all-embracing odes to communities lost and found.

Films by the Ross Brothers

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FILMS BY THE ROSS BROTHERS

Chasing Rainbows:

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CHASING RAINBOWS:

Contains material and themes suitable only for mature audiences.

strobe lighting

Bill Ross IV

Turner Ross

Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

en-US

BLOODY NOSE, EMPTY POCKETS

Contains material that may not be suitable for children or young adults.

animal cruelty

injury detail

discriminatory language

Western

WESTERN

Contemporary Color

CONTEMPORARY COLOR

45365

Gasoline Rainbow

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GASOLINE RAINBOW