And we've rounded up some free tickets to this weekend's screenings for Show and Tell readers. All you need to do to win a pair is tell us why you'd like to see the movie in the comments section below -- and then be able to pick them up at the Westword office, 969 Broadway, by 5 p.m. today. See also:Wild Horses: The bad science behind BLM's management plan
The additional screenings were made possible by a successful Kickstarter campaign that ended January 1 after raising more than the needed $40,000. "Only 43 percent of all Kickstarter campaigns are successful, and most only reach their goals on the very last day of the campaign," writes producer Ellie Phipps Price, a native of Denver. "Not so with American Mustang the Movie -- we were 100 percent funded with a full week to go. Thanks to you, when the campaign was completed, we were 113 percent funded, with 584 total backers showing their support for American Mustang. Our team is excited, humbled and grateful to know that so many of you support wild horses and support the widespread release of our
Phipps Price, a lifelong equestrian, adopted 172 mustangs in 2009 to prevent them bring being killed; she created a 2,000-acre sanctuary for the horses in Northern California -- and also got the idea of making a movie to bring the plight of the American mustang to the attention of the American public. In 3-D, no less.
For the project, she enlisted local director Monty Miranda, who's done award-winning videos, commercials and political spots; he also directed The Insomniac, with Danny Trejo and John Heard. Darryl Hannah narrated the documentary. Also signing on, as producer, was Henry Ansbacher, executive director and founder of Just Media, which develops and produces documentary films that use media as an agent for change.
And there are definitely calls for change in how the federal government handles wild horses, as Alan Prendergast has documented in his coverage of the issue. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act designates public land for the protection of wild horses; since its passage, though, more than 270,000 wild horses and burros have been removed from public lands by the BLM. Today there are only 32,000 horses left in the wild, and more than 50,000 are being held in captivity. Initiatives such as the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign are working to keep America's wild horses and burros in natural, free-roaming herds.
For more information on the film, go to americanmustangthemovie.com.
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