The ride of a lifetime
‘Unbranded,’ to screen at Mountainfilm on Tour in Angel Fire
Ben Masters pays attention to his ideas. And his most recent one, turned into a great story. Masters is the “mastermind” behind the film “Unbranded.” A shortened version of the film will be showing as part of the Mountainfilm on Tour in Angel Fire. The event is part of the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in Colorado.
The traveling festival will screen 15 short films.
“Unbranded” is a documentary following four friends on a 3,000mile journey on recently trained wild mustangs across the great American West.
The idea for the documentary came back in 2010, when Masters and two friends completed a 2,000-mile ride along the Continental Divide.
He says they were broke at the time and adopted some $125 mustangs from the Bureau of Land Management to supplement their string of quarter horses.
They were surprised to find the mustangs outperformed the domestic horses.
Intrigued, Masters looked into the wild horse controversy and found a sad and complex situation: 50,000 unwanted wild horses and burros living in government-leased pens and pastures and in need of permanent homes. He decided to do something about it, and the “Unbranded” idea was born.
Masters recruited riders Jonny Fitzsimons, Thomas Glover, and Ben Thamer to join him on his quest and brought director Phillip Baribeau on board to guide the film’s production.
Masters says it took about five months to do the ride.
“I enjoyed this trip,” he says. “When were got back, we had about 500 hours of footage that we had to edit down. It was extremely difficult.”
Masters always wanted to do something like this, and he didn’t expect the movie to come out as well as it did.
“The audiences have been more than amazing,” he says. “I was just out in Hawaii for a film festival where we picked up some awards. It’s been a really great project to be a part of. I don’t know if I’ll ever experience anything like this again.”
The festival showcases films that focus on activism, adventure and human rights.
The documentary films will explore the themes connected to Telluride Mountainfilm’s mission of exploring cultures, preserving environments and promoting adventure.
“I was raised in Texas, and my family taught me about nature,” he says. “This adventure began when I was young, and I’m searching for ways to tell the stories that need to be told.”
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