Released in May, “Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West” is a documentary that follows the targeting of wild horses in the United States. Variety senior editor Todd Gilchrist…
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Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
00:36:30
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Released in May, “Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West” is a documentary that follows the targeting of wild horses in the United States. Variety senior editor Todd Gilchrist moderated a panel about the film, which included director, producer and editor Ashley Avis; producer Edward Winters; Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project; and Dr. Yvette Running Horse Collin, an Oglala Lakota scientist.
Avis’ strong connection to horses originates from experiences in her childhood that sparked her desire to advocate for the animals.
“I grew up with horses, and I was so inspired as a child by the wonderful equine-themed literature such as Walter Farley’s ‘The Black Stallion’ or Anna Sewell’s ‘Black Beauty,'” Avis said. “So I loved horses from a very young age but I had no idea what was happening with wild horses in our country until my mid-twenties, when I was brought abroad to write and direct ‘Black Beauty.'”
She continued, “I don’t know why we’re called to do certain things, but it did feel like something was leading the way. We didn’t show the horse that we saw in this film because it’s too hard even for an empathetic adult to see horses with broken legs and broken necks … shaping the film, we very much wanted a strong 14-year-old to be able to see the movie.”
For married producer duo Avis and Winters, the subject matter meant needing to get out into nature for a fully authentic portrayal of wild horses. Filming just happened to coincide with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was very isolated, we were just out in the wild. It was possibly the safest production that took place during that time,” Winters recalled of filming during the pandemic.
The notion of advocacy was at the forefront of Collin’s dedication to supporting the project. “Different Indigenous nations speak for different species and life forms … as a Lakota, we speak for the Horse Nation,” said Collin. “When the horse is showing us that things aren’t working, we need to pay attention.”
Collin continued, “The horses have been here this entire time. They are an apex species, and they need to be treated as such. I think one of the most important things that Ashley’s film does is that it actually highlights a lot of the mismanagement that’s happening on public lands. And the government needs to be managing these properly in a sustainable way for the American people, for the Indigenous people — we have treaties, they’re supposed to be managing this land — and for all species.”
“Wild Beauty” strives for environmental awareness, but it also implores audiences to reflect on their own relationship to the wild world and what they can do to help mitigate the ongoing crisis against wildlife.
“This film is a very masterful piece of investigative journalism,” said Molvar. “It’s really scandalous the way that the Bureau of Land Management mismanages public lands to the detriment of wildlife, to the detriment of land health, to the detriment of the public interest.”
“This is a film that is all about humanity’s relationship to nature and how dysfunctional that has really become,” Molvar added.
Said Avis: “We wanted to make sure that younger people were able to sit there and watch this film and hopefully take action.”
Watch the video above.