In popular culture there is topical, there is trendy and then there is timely. Three days before the Starz Denver Film Festival premiere of director Monty Miranda’s American Mustang and it the news is covered in horse…stories. The Atlantic calls out the Secretary of the Interior, Federal Appeals Court Halts Slaughter— the pounding of the activists hooves rising in defense of the wild horse.
American Mustang is a character-driven narrative about a young girl, a cowboy and a wild horse, woven with documentary style 3-D footage from the open ranges of America’s West. Denverite, Writer and Co-Producer, Henry Ansbacher, teams up with Executive Producer/Co-Writer, Ellie Phipps Price to create memorable characters from extensive interviews with those on all sides of the wild horse saga. Phipps Price spent her early years in Colorado and it was at the BLM holding facility in Canyon City where she adopted her first mustang, Dunstan. Passionate about the plight of this American icon, Ms. Ellie Phipps Price had the idea to create a film to raise awareness of wild horse preservation. She has rescued over 172 wild horses, creating a 2000 acre sanctuary to house and protect them in Northern California.
This is not Director Monty Miranda’s first rodeo with the Starz Denver Film Festival, as SDFF30 featured his directorial debut with the comedy, Skills Like This. Miranda takes a beautiful turn here with American Mustang . His breathtaking images, shot in 3-D on the open ranges of eight western states, braid the history, mistreatment and majesty of the mustang, juxtaposed by the Bureau of Land Management round-ups and the captivity that is often their heartbreaking reality. Narrated by actress and activist, Daryl Hannah, American Mustang is, in turns, sweeping and intimate; a visually stunning love song and call to action.
American Mustang premieres Thursday November 7, 7:00 pm at the UA Pavilions with screenings Saturday Nov 9 at 2:00 pm (UA Pavilions) and Sunday Nov 10, 7:00 pm at the Wildlife Experience* *Note: Tickets for this screening only available at www.thewildlifeexperience.org