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EQUUS INTERNATIONAL Film Festival® A Powerful Platform for Voices of First Nation Horsemen

The 2019 EQUUS INTERNATIONAL Film Festival® March 14-17 at the Roxy Theatre in Missoula, Montana, promises a powerful platform for the voices and stories of First Nation horsemen and women when the equine film-making world comes to the heart of the American West for four days of screenings and special performances, including by nationally renowned Fancy Dancer, Matthew Black Eagle, before the Saturday night banquet and EQUUS INTERNATIONAL Film Festival Awards.

EIFF founder Janet Rose has confirmed this year’s guests will include members of Thundering Hooves, the organization that produced the documentary Their Last Ride and its unflinching look at Presidio, Texas, through the eyes of a Cherokee woman and direct descendant of the Trail of Tears, as her Native community fights for the dignity of horses bound for slaughter in Mexico from there. Written by Neta Rhyne and Michael Aku RoDriguez, directed by RoDriguez, and starring Rhyne and Spirit Horse, Their Last Ride is a personal journey into the world of horse slaughter and how a grassroots organization is building a multi-cultural, co-creative artistic platform for awareness about the Spirit of the Horse.

Their Last Ride guests will include Fancy Dancer and member of the Cherokee tribe, Matthew Black Eagle, a descendant of the Dakota 38 and overseer of the annual ride paying tribute to the 38 Dakota Sioux men hanged by the US Army the day after Christmas during the Dakota War of 1862. It remains the largest mass execution in American history.

Author, song and screenplay writer, Lynny Prince, who is married to Matthew Black Eagle, will also attend. Her music video, Ride it Out, A Song for Slaughter-Bound Horses, is featured in this year’s EIFF Official Selection and Finalist Documentary, Their Last Ride.

“A few producers of songs that are part of the film may also attend and perform,” Rose said. “It’s happening in a very organic way and I love when things evolve naturally like this – this year’s film festival should be a powerful and thought-provoking gathering of people who cherish horses and their place in all cultures.”

Friday, March 15, features special screenings of Fast Horse, winner of Best Documentary Short in its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and a Short Film Grand Jury Prize nominee at the Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Alexandra Lazarowich, a Cree filmmaker whose documentaries on Indigenous peoples include Cree Code Talker (2016) and Alvaro (2015), Fast Horse follows Blackfoot bareback horse racing in a new form: the Indian Relay. Siksika horseman Allison RedCrow struggles to build a team with secondhand races and a new jockey, Cody BigTobacco, to face the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the Calgary Stampede.

EIFF is rolling out a red carpet to western Montana teachers and students to screen Fast Horse. ”Its story, culture and meaning are so important for young people,” said Rose. “We will be reaching out to area reservation schools to encourage them to attend the screenings. Fast Horse, juxtaposed with another coming of age story set in Mongolia that we are screening, called Boy Nomad, underscores a global message for kids about everyone having their own cultural and spiritual connection to the horse.”

EQUUS INTERNATIONAL Film Festival® is an official outreach project of Horse Haven Montana. Learn more at http://www.equusinternationalfilmfestival.com or Facebook @EQUUSINTERNATIONALFilmFestival.

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