2011 Telly Award

Wild Horses In Winds of Change is a Telly Award winning documentary that calls upon it’s audience to be guardians of the natural world yet remains above all a meaningful and informative journey into the ever changing circumstances for america’s mustangs. Following it’s world premier at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, where it won a Los Angeles Movie Award, this film went on to be an official selection and award winner at film festivals coast to coast being paired paired with the Sundance audience choice award winning film, Buck . According to the Library Journal - “Wild Horses In Winds of Change is beautifully rendered and very persuasive…..”

The opening scenes of Wild Horses in Winds of Change take us on an unforgettable journey into the soul of the mustang, portraying their freedom, sensitivity and delightful family units. It is a trail that is interwoven with our own freedom. This award-winning documentary stimulates our awareness, offers fresh understanding of the wild horse crisis, and is a film for all who care about our planet’s fate.

The stunning photography cuts abruptly to the current reality of wild horse lives. These “dolphins of the land” are driven from their natural habitat by the Bureau of Land Management helicopters into holding pens to be held indefinitely in cramped conditions. Many die of untreated disease or turn up in slaughter pipelines. Their protection, enshrined by law in 1971,originally won by Wild Horse Annie and huge public outcry, has been lost.

Can we re-direct the path of wild horse injustice and extermination we are currently following?

Yes we can, according to LeGrand, “We should be able to find solutions for all the problems we’ve created for Nature and its inhabitants.” 

Wild Horse experts and long-time advocates Mary Ann Simonds and Karen Sussman are the main storytellers of this film, observing that these horses are born, raised and survive in the wild and have always existed here. Yet based on outdated myths and attitudes, we don’t study them as we do other wild species.

While there is a need for more unbiased studies, LeGrand meticulously illustrates that archeology, molecular biology and paleontology already make a plausible claim that the horse is indigenous to North America. An animated map is woven into the film, along with footage of ice age, desert and plains horses, explaining exactly how they belong in our ecosystem like other wildlife.

Viewers are skillfully shown what is being lost, what urgently needs to change and what can be done to help. This outstanding film reflects LeGrand’s mission of calling people to action for the health of the planet and its inhabitants. The next steps clearly belong to us.

Mara LeGrand, PhD. is an award winning photojournalist, screenwriter, and film director.

”I give Wild Horses In Winds of Change Two Thumbs Up!  It is Informative, moving, non-preachy, includes thoughtful commentaries, inspirational images and it’s remarkable rendering leads the viewer to become more sensitive to the issues surrounding America’s mustang herds… something this nation needs.  Great job!”
 - David Martin Anderson, Author of The Last Good Horse

"The film is totally engaging and is a home – run for horse and animal lovers. Each personal story intrigues and unfolds in classic documentary film fashion."
 - Cleveland International Film Festival

"Wild Horses In Winds of Change is a beautifully crafted documentary that offers and inspires new alternatives while it calls upon us to look at ourselves and our culture’s deeper values."
- Tony Stomberg, Photographer, Author.

 

Color / WideScreen / 30 Mins
Subject Matter – Ecology, Stewardship, Nature, Environmental, Social Science, Animal Rights, Horsemanship, Interdisciplinary: American History & Range land politics
Recommended for Age 13 up.
No Violence, Gore or expletives’. Controversial subject matter.

Street Date: January 10, 2012

DVD

Documentary

UPC: 844553049556

For Classroom or Public Performance Rights contact Skydancer Production LLC.