A look at the bizarre roadside attraction South of the Border and the controversial man who created it. Beyond building a $50 million enterprise, Alan Schafer was a heavy player in politics. He supposedly moved a highway, skirmished with the KKK, and went to prison for voting fraud. 

It all started off with an annual pit-stop at South of the Border on a trip to the Full Frame documentary festival last year. After returning home Jesse and Nate looked up the roadside attraction on Wikipedia and came to the conclusion that the story of its owner would make an interesting documentary. Nate had just finished a documentary class with Virginia Friedman, and she helped jumpstart the film with grant money from the Alex Sanders Student Filmmaker Award.

What followed were several trips to South of the Border during the summer of 2008. Filming began with extensive b-roll shoots and interviews with the lovable employees. The first break came when SOB’s general manager opened up on camera. By the end of summer the two filmmakers tracked down and interviewed Laura Christiansen who wrote her masters thesis about SOB and Alan Schafer. A few trips to SOB down the road and principle filming would wrap with an interview with Schafer’s sister and an outspoken local. Editing was well underway by this time, and the film was completed March of 2009.