Executive Producers Robert Redford, Patti Scialfa Springsteen and USA Olympic Equestrian Silver Medalist
Jessica Springsteen take viewers to
the American West to show how the survival of the wild horse
is at stake
Featuring Music by Bruce
Springsteen, Emmylou Harris,
Willie Nelson and an original song written by music icon
Diane Warren and performed by
Platinum-selling artist Blanco
Brown
NEW YORK, July 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mustangs:
America's Wild Horses, an award-winning feature
documentary about the plight of wild horses in the West,
premieres on PBS stations in July in New York, Philadelphia and Miami. There are additional
broadcast dates throughout the country including Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco in August and
September and a national broadcast in August on the public
television WORLD Channel. The film is produced by Steven Latham
Productions.
"America's wild horses are fighting their
last stand," said Executive Producer Robert Redford.
The film is executive produced by Robert
Redford, Patti Scialfa
Springsteen and Jessica
Springsteen.
"America's wild horses are fighting their last stand," said
Executive Producer Robert Redford. "Increasing competition for our
natural resources threatens our wilderness areas, our wild horses
and other wildlife species. Horses are interwoven into the very
fabric of what is America. What threatens them threatens us
all."
There are nearly 80,000 wild horses on our public lands and more
than 60,000 in government corrals. Centered on the current
controversy surrounding the preservation of these American icons,
the film highlights individuals and groups across the United States who are working with wild
horses, including an organization that pairs mustangs and veterans
with PTSD. Other stories include photographers documenting mustangs
in the wild, a group that helps manage population growth with
fertility control, the legacy of a woman named "Wild Horse Annie"
who mobilized a grassroots campaign with schoolchildren in the
1970s to protect wild horses with legislation that saved them from
the brink of extinction and a sanctuary in California named Return to Freedom that
reunites mustangs that were rounded up on the range.
The 90-minute documentary features a soundtrack with songs by
American musical icons Bruce
Springsteen ("Chasin' Wild Horses"), Emmylou Harris (Leonard
Cohen's "Ballad of a Runaway Horse"), and
Willie Nelson ("Ride Me Back
Home"), and the original song "Never Gonna Tame You,"
performed by Platinum-selling artist Blanco
Brown and written by iconic songwriter Diane Warren, a 15-time Oscar® nominee and
GRAMMY®, Emmy® and two-time Golden Globe® award winner whose songs
have been featured in over 100 motion pictures and has been
inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The film highlights the work of Operation Wild Horse, an
organization, that pairs mustangs and veterans with
PTSD. Consulting Producer Gerry Byrne, a Marine Corps Vietnam
Veteran and prominent veterans' activist, comments, "The
Mustangs highlights the importance of addressing the
pressures of PTSD and the 'hidden wounds of war'. I commend the
film for showcasing the work of veterans who are making a
difference."
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Philipps (Wild Horse Country: The
History, Myth, and Future of the Mustang), who is featured in
the film says, "The wild horse is so ingrained in the American
imagination that even for those 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."
"America's wild horses represent freedom, strength and resilience,"
said Emmy Award-Winning Producer and Co-Director Steven Latham. "So many people are unaware of
the challenges the mustang faces to survive in a changing
world."
In 1900, there were two million wild horses in the West. By the
1950s, there were less than 20,000 due to their exploitation. After
a federal law passed in 1971 to protect wild horses, their
population started growing. Today, the Bureau of Land Management
says there should be about 26,000 wild horses on public lands
across 10 western states. Wild mustang numbers have risen in modern
times to upwards of 80,000, and the film explores the challenges of
managing an expanding population with no natural predators. The
Bureau of Land Management plans on rounding up 20,000 wild horses a
year.
View the
trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSWEC0buBq0&t=3s
PBS station airdates:
https://www.facebook.com/TheMustangsFilm/
July airdates:
Miami
WLRN -
Thursday, 7/18 at 9 pm
New
York
Thirteen - Sunday, 7/21 at 6:30
pm
Philadelphia
WHYY -
Thursday, 7/25 at 10 pm
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; Director
of Photography Brian Pratt; Music
Supervisor Andrew Gross.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-mustangs-americas-wild-horses---broadcast-premiere-on-pbs-stations-beginning-in-july-302197773.html
SOURCE Steven Latham Productions