×Director Kate Beecroft spent three years living with a family in South Dakota before she started writing a script about their lives.

“I was out there with no camera. I just wanted to kind of embed myself into their life and build that trust and see how they run a ranch,” Beecroft says. “If I’m going to write about their experiences, I better get it right.”

The result, “East of Wall,” looks at Tabatha Zimiga, a rancher near Wall, S.D., who rescues and resells horses. She and her children proved fascinating when Beecroft and cinematographer Austin Shelton pulled up to her house looking for story ideas.

“They were intimidating,” the director says. “Then Tabatha came out and said, ‘So, you’re here to see some real cowgirl (stuff) and she told her daughter Porshia and Porshia’s friends to g

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