Way Out There

Library Stories: Books on the Backroads

2023

Library Stories: Books on the Backroads is a film about New Mexico's rural libraries. It’s about villages and Pueblo communities, their histories and their people, where their libraries are, and what their libraries mean. Rural people across our country know their libraries are essential to the educational and social fabric of their communities.

The Boy Who Found Gold

2016

William Hart McNichols is a world renowned artist, heralded by Time magazine as "among the most famous creators of Christian iconic images in the world". As a young Catholic priest from 1983-1990 he was immersed in a life-altering journey working as a chaplain at St. Vincent's AIDS hospice in New York city. It was during this time that he became an early pioneer for LGBT rights within the Catholic church. "The Boy Who Found Gold" is a cinematic journey into the art and spirit of William Hart McNichols. The film follows his colorful life as he crosses paths with presidents, popes, martyrs, and parishioners, finding an insightful lesson with each encounter. McNichols' message as a priest, artist and man speaks to the most powerful element of the human spirit: Mercy.

Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait

2019

Told in the cinematic tradition of classic westerns, “COWBOYS - A Documentary Portrait” is a feature-length film that gives viewers the opportunity to ride alongside modern working cowboys on some of America's largest and most remote cattle ranches. The movie documents the lives of the men and women working on these "big outfit" ranches - some of which are over one million acres - and still require full crews of horseback mounted workers to tend large herds of cattle. Narrated through first-hand accounts from the cowboys themselves, the story is steeped in authenticity and explores the rewards and hardships of a celebrated but misunderstood way of life, including the challenges that lie ahead for the cowboys critical to providing the world's supply of beef. “COWBOYS” was filmed on eight of the nation’s largest cattle ranches across ten states in the American West.

The Cowboy

2026

Ten years in the life of young cowboy Crowley as he comes of age in the vastness of Colorado. On his rocky path, he endures loss, separation, and shattered dreams.

Old New Mexico

1940

This Traveltalk series short takes viewers on a tour of old New Mexico. Starting in Santa Fe, the oldest state capitol in the USA, the city existed long before European migration. It's unique architecture is its most prominent feature. There are several archaeological sites trying to date when Indians first settled in the area. Seven percent of the population are of Indian origin. Near Taos is the onetime home of Kit Carson whose grave is one of the sacred shrines of New Mexico. The Navajo live on their 14 million acre reservation and continue their traditional way of life.

Corral

1954

Corral is a 1954 National Film Board of Canada documentary by Colin Low, partly shot in the Cochrane Ranch in what is now Cochrane, Alberta. In the film, a cowboy rounds up wild horses, lassoing one of the high-spirited animals in the corral, then going on a ride across the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta.

Yellowtail

Yellowtail is the story of a young Native American cowboy searching for meaning as his chaotic lifestyle begins to wear on him both physically and mentally. To find his purpose the young man has to reflect on his upbringing as a native to become the spiritually connect man he was meant to be.

Losing the West

2013

"Losing The West" is a documentary film that promotes small ranching and farming, as told through the eyes of a 70-year-old Native American cowboy. The film was shot primarily in Colorado. The director was born in Denver and owns a small ranch near Ridgway, Colorado.

And Those Who Dance it Surrender Their Hearts to Each Other

2017

And Those Who Dance it Surrender Their Hearts to Each Other is a portrait of Lone Piñon, a Northern New Mexican string band celebrating their region’s cultural roots. With fiddles, upright bass, accordions, vihuela, mandolin, guitars, jarana huasteca, and vocals in Spanish, English, Nahuatl and P’urepecha, they play a wide spectrum of the traditional music that is at home in New Mexico. The musicians have learned from elder musicians (such as Antonia Apodaca) who instilled in them a respect for continuity of the community based social and dance music. Noah Martinez, Jordan Wax, Leticia Gonzales and Greg Glassman have brought the language of New Mexico traditional music and related regional traditions back onto the modern stage, back onto dance floors, and back into the ears of a young generation.

Ride Around the World

2006

Journey across Morocco, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Patagonia, Texas and British Columbia, to meet vaqueros, gauchos, baqueanos and cowboys - all part of a single global horse culture, an unbroken trail stretching back 1,500 years.

Nasario Remembers the Rio Puerco

2017

Acclaimed folklorist Nasario Garcia wanders through landscape and memory amid the ghosts towns of New Mexico's Rio Puerco valley, reviving recuerdos tales of his youth when the ranching villages thrived and viejitos elders told stories beside a river that once ran.

Amarillo By Morning

1998

While filming professional bullriders for a commercial at the national rodeo in Houston, Texas, Spike Jonze befriended two suburban teenagers who aspired to be cowboys. The documentary chronicles an afternoon in their lives.