Rodeo Dreams

In rural Queensland, four determined young bull riders try to make it in one of the most dangerous sports on Earth.

The biggest bull-riding event in the Southern Hemisphere, the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo is a place where young cowboys with big dreams go to strut their stuff, hoping to hang on for just eight seconds. Soft-spoken Donovan Rutherford is a true pro, admired by many and feted as a future champion; Indigenous rider Peter Gregory Jr is seeking to match his father’s exploits in the arena; Camicka Anderson is trying to make it as a rare female competitor in a macho sport; and charismatic Darcy Harrison, who’s prone to talking about himself in the third person, is oozing with natural talent and a real contender — or might be, if he bothers to show up. But it’s not just these teens and young adults’ own ambitions that are at stake. When the 60-plus-year event enters involuntary administration, Mount Isa residents are faced with a choice: to put together a last-ditch grassroots bid to save the rodeo, or to let this institution disappear in a cloud of dust.

Filmed over three years, Rhian Skirving (Greenhouse by Joost, MIFF 2022) and W.A.M. Bleakley’s (A Birthday Party, MIFF 2017) Sydney Film Festival Audience Award–winning documentary is not only a portrait of its young subjects, but also a bigger-picture evocation of life and community in Queensland’s Gulf Country. With original music by Sam Teskey of The Teskey Brothers and backing from the producers behind recent MIFF crowdpleasers Spreadsheet Champions (MIFF 2025) and Ellis Park (MIFF 2024), this beautifully photographed real-life coming-of-age saga is a warm, infectious journey into a part of Australia rarely represented on the big screen.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival