Buckaroo film now available for streaming

Florida-based Horse.TV has acquired the worldwide subscription video rights to “The Outside Circle: A Movie of the Modern West,” written and directed by Sisters resident Craig Rullman. It is now available for streaming.

The movie was filmed over two years, in five western states, and features interviews with acclaimed Sisters author and historian Dr. Larry Len Peterson, western scholar Dr. Jeremy Johnston of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, film director and photographer John Langmore, founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Cary Schwarz, and international performer and cowboy celebrity Waddie Mitchell.

Horse.TV says: “‘The Outside Circle’ tells the stories of Len Babb, a lifelong buckaroo and accomplished western artist — the Murphy family, fifth generation Oregon ranchers fighting to preserve their land and legacy — and Victoria Jackson, a Paiute-Shoshone rodeo champion, whose family history in the Great Basin stretches back over 14,000 years.

Determined to preserve their traditions and livelihoods far from the dominant cultural, political, and economic centers of wider America, the narratives find a common thread in their adherence to values that have sustained them against the odds: faith, family, friends, and community.

Set in some of the most beautiful and remote regions of the American west, “The Outside Circle” offers a vision of ardent optimism against the raging tempests of our age.”

Austin, Texas-based Executive Producer Jeffrey Brown, whose credits include “Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait,” “Cowboys Without Borders,” and over 30 other documentary films said: “The film is beautifully shot, and I wanted to work on ‘The Outside Circle’ because it tells a unique story about the Great Basin which audiences likely know little about, especially the Paiute-Shoshone scenes in the film. Having been part of other recent cowboy documentaries I felt confident I could help the film reach audiences and be well received. Happy to say both have happened.”

Rullman said, “I set out to make an authentic independent film about the modern, very rural West, places almost nobody visits and very few people even think about. I wanted to give the audience a window into a life they don’t see very often, and let them hear voices they rarely hear from. We were very fortunate to build a team of talented people around that vision. And I think we accomplished our goal in a visually stunning, meaningful, and enduring way. Horse.TV has been quietly building an excellent catalog of independent films, and we are honored to have secured a place among them.”

“The Outside Circle” was filmed and edited by Sisters native Samuel Pyke, with additional camera work by Cody Rheault, and features original music from local musicians Jim Cornelius, Mike Biggers, and Lilli Worona. The film marks the premier of a new song by Western Heritage Award winner and Billboard recording artist Adrian Brannan.

“I wanted to cook with local ingredients,” Rullman said. “And as much as possible, we stayed true to that vision all the way through.”

The film was produced by Craig Rullman and Cris Converse, of Sisters, and enjoyed its world premier at the Thin Line Film Fest in Denton, Texas, earlier this year. It has been featured at the Hill Country Film Festival in Fredericksburg, Texas, and will be featured again at the WYO Film Fest in Sheridan, Wyoming, in October. The film has also been picked up by MVD Entertainment Group, recently named an “Indie Power Player” by Billboard Magazine, who will pursue additional on-demand licensing arrangements and distribution platforms around the world.

A collector’s edition companion book of behind-the-scenes photography is forthcoming from Smoke Creek Press.