The Territory

The Territory began airing on Houston Public Television, KUHT-TV, in 1975. It was a project of the Southwest Alternate Media Project, or SWAMP, the Houston media arts group started by filmmaker James Blue and Ed Hugetz, SWAMP's first director, with support from philanthropist Dominique de Menil. SWAMP gives its own founding year as 1977, so the series and the organization grew up together. The Houston Press described the early show as people's television, born of the video portapak, cable access and Vietnam-era politics.

Over time The Territory moved to a more conventional format built around short artist-made film and video grouped by subject. A 1999 Houston Press profile by Andrea Grover listed experimental narratives, documentaries, dance, performance art, gay and lesbian work, architecture films and animation, plus a steady supply of Texas-made projects. Newer artists such as Sadie Benning, Jem Cohen and Art Jones aired next to Nam June Paik and Bill Viola. The show added on-air commentators, among them Marian Luntz, film curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and executive producer Judith Simms. The Press called it the longest-running public television program of independent film and video.

By 1999 the show was a co-production of SWAMP, the Austin Museum of Art and KUHT, and its 24th season ran statewide on PBS stations. That fall it aired 28 documentaries, short narratives, animated and experimental works in 12 half-hour episodes on Sundays from October 10 to January 16, including work found at SXSW, the Austin Film Festival, the Dallas Video Festival, the USA Film Festival and a Houston film festival.

SWAMP still presents The Territory as one of its signature programs for Texas filmmakers on public television. This research did not find a documented date for its most recent season.