Pure Grit

Directed By Kim Bartley

PURE GRIT is a thrilling and intimate tale of extreme bareback horse racing, young love and hope when all seems lost.

  • ABOUT
  • BIO
Filmed over three years, Pure Grit chronicles the life of Sharmaine, a ten time Native American bareback horse racing champion as she navigates the highs and lows of life on and off the reservation. PURE GRIT is an exhilarating and deeply affecting film about life, love and the challenges of growing up on the harsh but magnificent Wind River reservation in Wyoming. Growing up queer on Wyoming's Wind River reservation, Sharmaine Weed has faced more than her share of troubles-but her love of extreme bareback horse racing has sustained her throughout. A ten-time undefeated champion until she's forced to give up racing to care for her sister after a horse racing accident, Sharmaine finds solace and support in her burgeoning relationship with Savannah, a sparkling city girl who moves to the rez to help her care for her family. When the two young women decide relocate to the city to escape the increasingly toxic atmosphere at home, Sharmaine finally earns enough cash to realize her dream of buying a horse of her own and begins plotting her racing comeback. But the path we choose doesn't always take us where we want to go... as Sharmaine and Savannah soon discover. Filmed over the course of three years in the breathtaking Wyoming landscape, this affecting documentary from Kim Bartley (The Revolution Will Not Be Televised) is an exuberant tale of love, loss, and resilience among the Native American community.
Kim Bartley has been involved in making documentaries for over 20 years. Having grown up in Paris, Kim is now based in Ireland, her early career was spent filming off the beaten track, on frontlines and in post conflict & emergency response situations from Afghanistan to Colombia. Kim shoots and directs many of her own films and her area of focus remains intimate human interest stories, social justice and current affairs. Over the course of her career she has won a number of international awards including the Grierson and IDA awards for Best Feature Documentary. Her work has screened at numerous festivals including SXSW, TIFF, Chicago FF. Her most recent feature documentary PURE GRIT won best documentary at the Galway Film Festival and has garnered widespread critical acclaim and was described by Queer Screen as "groundbreaking".