A film festival that originated near Chicago will makes its New York City debut at The MIST in Harlem this weekend.
Founded by horsewoman Lisa Diersen, the Equus Film Festival began last year with the Festival of the Horse and Drum, a multicultural equine festival with Native American themes that Diersen describes as “kind of like the United Nations of horses.”
Diersen was spurred to create the festival in order to bring The Horse Boy to a wider audience. Produced by Diersen’s friend Rupert Isaacson, the film captures a family’s journey to Mongolia to explore equine and alternative therapy for their autistic son.
“I wanted to be able to show Rupert’s film,” said Diersen, speaking from her barn in Illinois, where she raises Lusitano horses, “so we developed a horse film festival and ran it here in a beautiful little theater, the Arcada in St. Charles.”
The success of the festival brought it to the attention of Sarah Chase at Horse Lifestyle, a Netherlands-based company that offers on-demand and DVD digital content with equine themes.
"I found Lisa on Facebook,” said Chase, who is based in New York. “I thought the ‘Festival of the Horse and Drum’ was an interesting title, and then I realized that it was a whole film festival.
“We were looking for development projects that would be good for the equine industry and that had a global flair to them.”
This year’s festival runs on Friday and Saturday November 21 and 22 at The MIST, with films running on three screens until for about 12 hours daily.
Saturday morning has been billed as a community event for the families and children of Harlem, featuring a free 10:30 a.m. screening of Black Rodeo. Filmed in Harlem in 1972, the movie about African-American cowboys features appearances by Muhammad Ali and Woody Strode and music by Aretha Franklin and B. B. King.
Also shown on Saturday morning will be the Native American documentary Dakota 38 to celebrate Native American heritage month, and The Horse Boy’s Isaacson will be on hand as well.
The community program is free to the public from 10:30 to noon on Saturday; children under 15 can attend the entire festival free of charge.
“It’s a great way to expose people to a new lifestyle and get the community involved in the horse world,” said Chase.
“It’s really cool to be able to bring Black Rodeo back to Harlem,” said Diersen, whose horses have participated in the World Equine Games, one of the premier events in equestrian sport. Though Black Rodeo has a cult following, this weekend will mark its festival debut.
The festival includes films from India, Brazil, Australia, and Japan on topics that include the ways horses have been used to heal young girls rescued from sex trafficking and the effects on horses and a historic equine festival by the Fukushima nuclear accident after the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
Also featured will be last year’s Penny and Red, about owner Penny Chenery and 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, produced by Chenery’s son John.
“We’re having a blast with it,” said Diersen. “The festival isn’t elite; the content is across the board from equestrian films, to films about the racehorse industry to commericals that feature horses.”
A lifelong horse person herself, Chase added, “It’s the Year of the Horse, and a great vibe for New York City.”
For more details, visit the festival’s website and Facebook page.
