Actor Robert Redford, Olympic Equestrian Jessica Springsteen and Musician Patti Scialfa Springsteen Put the Spotlight on an American Icon in Documentary
Soundtrack Features Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris
and Original Song by Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner Diane Warren
The Mustangs: America’s Wild Horses is available online for free on PBS.org and on the PBS App, debuting during Wild Horse and Burro Week. The feature documentary takes viewers on an odyssey throughout America and on our public lands to tell the story of one of the nation’s last great icons: the American Mustang.
Produced by Steven Latham Productions, with Robert Redford, Patti Scialfa Springsteen and Olympic equestrian Jessica Springsteen as executive producers, the 90-minute film premieres online during Wild Horse and Burro week (March 2 -8).
As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Philipps (Wild Horse Country: The History, Myth, and Future of the Mustang) explains in the film, “The wild horse is so ingrained in the American imagination that even who have never seen one know what it stands for: fierce independence, unbridled freedom, the bedrock ideals of the nation. From car ads to high school mascots, the wild horse – popularly known as the mustang – is the enduring icon of America. But in modern times it has become entangled in controversy and bureaucracy, and now its future is in question.”
The Mustangs takes television viewers into the center of this crisis to fully understand how we got to where we are and introduces individuals and organizations that are having a positive impact.
Interspersed throughout the film, beautiful photography of mustangs in the wild in Wyoming and Colorado is set to a score that includes songs by Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson and an original song written by Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner Diane Warren.
Viewers are introduced to people and agencies who have worked tirelessly since the 1970s to protect mustangs, including Velma Johnston, a secretary who earned the nickname “Wild Horse Annie” for her efforts. She mobilized an army of children to raise awareness about the plight of wild horses and testified before Congress, which unanimously passed the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act to ensure the protection of wild horses and burros on public lands.
Unfortunately, the crisis continues — but as the film explores, the mustangs have new champions.
The Mustangs takes viewers to Colorado where a group of volunteers are darting mares to help with fertility control; to a competition in Texas where trainers have 100 days to work with an untouched mustang to help them get adopted; to a group in Illinois that pairs military veterans with PTSD with mustangs for mutual benefit; and a moving reunion of horses separated during capture and now safe at Return to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary in California.
Today there are nearly 80,000 wild horses on our public lands and more than 60,000 in government corrals. The Mustangs shows the possibilities for positive change in wild horse management, offering a hopeful look at the potential for mustangs to remain an integral part of American society.
In addition to streaming for free on PBS.org, the film is also available for free on the PBS App on:
· iOS and Android devices
· Roku
· Apple TV
· Amazon Fire TV
· Samsung Smart TVs
· Chromecast
· Android TV
· Google TV
· Vizio Smart TVs
For more information, visit TheMustangsFilm.com
The Mustangs: America’s Wild Horses is Executive Produced by Robert Redford, Patti
Scialfa Springsteen and Jessica Springsteen; Co-Executive Produced by Joe Bourdeau and
Garry Denny; Produced by Steven Latham; Directed by Steven Latham and Conrad Stanley;
Co-Produced by Diane Warren; Consulting Producer Gerry Byrne; Edited by Conrad Stanley; Music Supervisor Andrew Gross.
About Steven Latham Productions
The Mustangs: America’s Wild Horses is the latest film from Emmy ® Award winning filmmaker Steven Latham. Latham produces and directs the series Shelter Me, now in its third season on public television. Latham’s previous work for public television includes producing and directing Saved by the Sun for NOVA and the PBS biography series The Living Century, which he co-created and produced with Barbra Streisand.
Media Contact:
Steven Latham
Steven@StevenLathamProductions.com
310-729-0528
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