Jessi, Naia and Shelby are just like any other girls. Or are they? Born in the heart of traditional Texas, heirs to a historically male-dominated pastoral culture, they are part of a new generation of women shaking up the male world of rodeo. Jessi is 16 and has several dozen victories under her belt. Naia, at the tender age of 9, already dreams of following in the footsteps of her father, a former rodeo champion. Shelby, 12, is one of the few girls who starts bull riding. All of them are totally dedicated to rodeo, a sport that makes them push their limits and leaves them little room for error. For these girls in their cowboy outfits, rodeo is much more than a tradition that has to be perpetuated. It is a process for constructing their identities, a way of finding themselves. Each of these fearless girls dreams of conquest, of forbidden territories and of victory. Their challenge is to carve out a place in this demanding universe and find the strength to assert themselves in it as unique individuals.
By following them in their daily lives as children and teenagers, the film takes us to the heart of a changing world where the cowboy is a woman, a girl, a Calamity Jane in search of freedom. We see how Jessi, Shelby and Naia have appropriated rodeo and its traditional values, turning them into a tool for emancipation, and we accompany and observe them as they free themselves from the chains that bind them. For despite the pressure they are under, self-inflicted or imposed by other people, they are still at the mercy of the angst that is part and parcel of their age. Rodeo Girls takes a fresh look at the changes affecting our societies and at the people playing an active role in those changes.
SCREENINGS & AWARDS
2024 Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
2024 Oak Cliff Film Festival
Upcoming: BUSTER (Sept 21 – Oct 6)
PRESS
Reviews: Le Monde, Télérama, Libération, Le Figaro, La Croix, Cheval Magazine, Tagesspiegel, Tele Loisirs
***
“The documentary thus shows a slice of the daily life of American teenagers, in a world attached to land and animals, far from urban landscapes and its revolts.”
Le Monde
DIRECTORS’ BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY
Kévin Noguès
Kévin Noguès is a French filmmaker born in 1981 in Caen, Lower Normandy. After studying Modern Literature, he made several short fiction films that were awarded by numerous festivals, including the Trouville Festival, which gave him the Critics’ Prize for his film “Uuquchiing”. In 2019, Kévin Noguès began a collaboration with Justine Morvan.
Justine Morvan
Justine Morvan is a French filmmaker born in 1989 in Rennes, Brittany. After studying political science, she worked for several years with art gallery owners before devoting herself to making documentary and fiction films. Together, Kévin Noguès and Justine Morvan have made several documentaries, “Rodeo Girls” being their first joint production. They are currently writing their first feature film.
Filmography (selection)
2023 – RODEO GIRLS, documentary, 58 min, Justine Morvan & Kévin Noguès
2022 – PREMIERES VOIX, documentary, 2 x 15 min – Justine Morvan & Kévin Noguès
2018 – UUQUCHIING, fiction, 20 min – Kévin Noguès
2014 – FRACAS, fiction, 10 min – Kévin Noguès
2011 – DANS L’ARBRE, fiction, 29 min – Kévin Noguès
2009 – LE DUENDE AU CORPS, documentary, 52 min – Kévin Noguès
CREDITS
Direction, screenplay authors Justine Morvan, Kévin Noguès
Camera Peter Buntaine, Thomas Favel
Editing Ronan Sinquin
Sound Loic Chautemps, Matthieu Perrot
Composer Julie Roué
Producers Christilla Huillard Kann, Corinne Delpech
Production company ELDA° productions
Partners ARTE France, BIP TV
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY
Christilla Huillard-Kann
Christilla Huillard-Kann is the producer and co-founder of Elda Productions, a French production company of documentaries. Previously she served as the Deputy Director of New Medias and was in charge of editorial at Radio France, the major French Public Radio Station. She was the commissioning editor at ARTE FRANCE (documentaries department), producer and Head of documentary department at Image et Cie, a French production company (Lagardère Group) and journalist at France Inter, the major French Public Radio channel. Christilla also worked as a demographer at UNESCO and is co-founder of “l’air numérique”, an out-of-competition selection of digital works of the European First Film festival “Premiers Plans”. She holds a M. Philo in Demographics and Econometrics at SciencesPo and an MSc in Economics at the Institute for the Study of Economic and Social Development.
PRODUCTION COMPANY
ELDA° productions is a production company created in 2015 by Christilla Huillard-Kann and Corinne Delpech in France; they both have a 20 years experience in cinema/TV/web production, share the same taste for innovation and the same involvement in the media and cultural sphere. ELDA° produces documentaries, original fiction series for TV and animated films as well as digital programs. Christilla and Corinne often and successfully worked with French and European coproducers, partners distributors, administrations (CNC, EEC Media Plan, Regional aid funds, Tax shelters systems, private foundations).
ELDA° Productions
Paris, France
contact@eldaproductions.com
https://www.eldaproductions.com/en/
