HOLLYWOOD & FILM
One of the most powerful
voices of The Rider was
Lane Scott, the young
Lakota bull rider who
lost his ability to speak
in a truck accident while
traveling the rodeo trail.
The Raw Heart of Badlands Cowboys
through Chloe Zhao’s Lens
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LOS ANGELES, California - Chloe Zhao’s ancestry traces
quickly back to the horse culture of inland China, but her
life has been a succession of huge cities; her birthplace
in Beijing, to London in her teens, then on to the coastal
metropolises of the United States, Los Angeles and New
York. These were the places she studied, lived and found
her desire to share powerful stories that she hoped would
connect humanity. She was also seeking something
missing in herself – a relationship with nature she’d
physically craved while living among teeming masses of
people, concrete and steel. with the film Songs My Brothers Taught Me, a hauntingly
beautiful story of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation that
won award nominations at Cannes and Sundance. While
shooting, her actors-not-actors did what cowboys do.
They told stories, talked horses, Cat Clifford picked guitar
– they sang, played and prayed. It was Brady Jandreau’s
matter-of-factly told tale of the near catastrophic brain
injury he suffered when he bucked off and was stepped
on by a bronc that captured Zhao’s imagination and
seduced her into sharing the story with the world-wide
audience beyond the Badlands campfire.
She found that connection in the Badlands of South
Dakota in the company of Lakota cowboys. It started The Rider opened to rave reviews from coast to coast
after winning awards at the big, international film festivals.
www.rodeofame.com
By Lori O’Harver