Two new horse-centric film projects – a feature film and a documentary – are riding into a movie theatre and across television screen near you.
Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan is set to direct the feature film King of the Wind, based on the novel of the same name by beloved author Marguerite Henry, author of Misty of Chincoteague. Inspired by the true story of the Darley Arabian, an 18th century stallion who sired the modern Thoroughbred, the movie follows the young colt’s journey from the stables of a Moroccan sultan to the royal courtyards of England and France. Sheridan (My Left Foot) is scouting locations for a planned shoot in North Africa and the Middle East next year.
Closer to home, the documentary film Where the Horses Heal the Soul is already completed and making the festival rounds. The film tracks the work of the nonprofit Ride on Center for Kids (ROCK) run by horsewoman Nancy Krenek.
The benefits of horse-based therapy is well-documented and Horse-Canada as written extensively about the practice. This new documentary offers an up-close-and-personal look at specific people who have found help through such a program.
The filmmaker is Twila LaBar, who hails from Georgetown, Texas, where ROCK is based. Beginning in 2019, she started filming some of the people at the centre, including veterans and people with special needs.
“Hunter, who’s in our film, she has cerebral palsy,” LaBar told Fox7 News. “She’s in a wheelchair, and just to see how she’s empowered to just chase her dreams and do things that people would never imagine that she could do, it just blows my mind.”
The documentary has won several awards, including after it screened at the Equus Film Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it earned the best hour-long USA Documentary Film About Horses and Healing honours.
“This film is really my heart,” adds LaBar. “This type of film and the stories here at ROCK, this is kind of pulling on my heartstrings as well.”
The film will find its way to Amazon and Apple for streaming sometime in the future.
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