SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In the Badlands of South Dakota, Tabatha Zimiga works as a rancher. She rescues, trains and sells horses.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EAST OF WALL")
TABATHA ZIMIGA: (As self) Yeah, he's going to be head shy. So make sure when you're training on him, you go by your seat, not your hands. All right?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) All right. Will do.
SIMON: She lives on a farm with her children and a clan of wayward teenagers. Now her life has inspired a new film, "East Of Wall," where Tabatha Zimiga plays herself following the death of her husband. One of the opening scenes - their daughter, Porshia, visits her father's grave.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "EAST OF WALL")
PORSHIA ZIMIGA: (As self) Least you got to see me in the rodeo last week. On my last flag, I got bucked off. It was pretty funny. I know we would have laughed about it.
SIMON: It's a story of loss and resilience and redemption. But a warning - this interview contains a reference to suicide. The film's writer and director, Kate Beecroft, says she only found Tabatha by chance.
KATE BEECROFT: I was driving around the U.S. This would have been maybe 5 1/2 years ago at this point. And we were just trying to find stories, faces we haven't really seen for maybe a short film or whatnot. And then we took a wrong turn when we were lost, and we landed in a tiny town in South Dakota called Oelrichs. And I met a woman there. And she said, if you want a really amazing story, head east of Wall and try to find a woman named Tabatha. And that's what I did. And I found Tabatha and her amazing group of teenagers who live out there with her. And I lived with them for three years in order for me to learn everything I could about them before I even started filming this movie.
SIMON: Tabatha, I mean (laughter), that's a big commitment.
T ZIMIGA: It doesn't feel that way when you consider our friendship. It was super easy to trust and love Kate, and she jumped right in. You know, being someone from LA who's never been - I mean, she'd been around the princess-type horses in the stables, but she'd never been around roughstock and cattle and stuff like that. And she jumped in and got her hands dirty right away.
SIMON: Kate Beecroft, what drew you into this story once you saw everybody in the flesh?
BEECROFT: You know, there's those old homesteading ranches and land throughout South Dakota that have been there for hundreds of hundreds of years and so many generations, and that's what - where Tabby (ph) lives. She lives on one of those ranches. So you have this, like, kind of romanticized version of the West as a backdrop, but they as a family are so modern. Whether it's what they're wearing or the way they style their hair, everything about them is modern. And that just immediately jumped out to me, especially the fierceness of this family and the women in this family, and especially also the teenage girls. And so immediately, I just knew - I've never seen anything like this before, and I want to see this version of a film.
SIMON: Tabatha, the film is loosely based on your own life, and a lot of it is built around the devastating loss you suffered when your husband John took his life. What was it like to have to live through that again, in a sense?
T ZIMIGA: It was really difficult. Man, that was a moment that I thought about walking away. But with the amazing people around me and the love I could feel from Kate, that's what made it bearable for me to continue on to tell this story.
SIMON: Kate Beecroft, as the director, how do you describe this form of art in which you're working? It's kind of made like a documentary, except it's not a documentary. How do you want people to talk about it?
BEECROFT: I think the genre I'd put it in is docufiction. And docufiction's been around for a while, but I think it's a really exciting genre because every director has their own definition of it. And for this film, what basically happened was I met Tabatha, and I was so compelled by her story and the teenagers on her ranch that I crafted a script where it is inspired by all of their lives. They are playing versions of themselves, but somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves.
And there's - moments in the script are from, you know, things that I've witnessed with them over the three years that I thought, these would be great scenes, or stories that they've told me from the past. And then I weave that into a script with kind of one fictional thread going through it, which is a character called Roy Waters, who's played by the amazing Scoot McNairy. So it does have doc elements to it. And, yes, Tabatha and her family - they're acting for the first time as versions of themselves. But I think it can stand alone as just a strong narrative piece and a character study of kind of cowgirls in the new West.
SIMON: Tabatha, at the heart of your story is, of course, certainly the loss of a loved one - your husband - but how tough a life it is out there. Help us understand that, if you can.
T ZIMIGA: Man, it's a hustle every day (laughter). It really is. I mean, there's - in the community we live in, nobody talks about suicide or your feelings or what's affecting you. You just grit down and go with it day by day, and eventually it builds up and gets to you. And that's something that the West is - it's kind of taboo. You don't speak about things that affect you, and nobody cares about your story. I mean, you think they don't, and then you do something like this and you get really surprised (laughter).
SIMON: Ranching's a tough life, isn't it?
T ZIMIGA: It is. Going through the devastating heartache of losing animals, to the wonder and beautiful aspects of having births born and raising animals and watching kids grow and watching them all thrive together, to wondering how you're going to feed them all next month - it's a never-ending vicious cycle.
SIMON: What's it about that relationship, do you think, between people and horses?
T ZIMIGA: It's something that you can't really put a word on. It's not something tame. To work with the horses - it's divine. When you're getting the trust of a 1,200-pound animal that could kill you with a flip of a switch, when it shows you that it loves you and will do anything for you, there's nothing like that. It's like a straight connection pathway to God when you are able to connect with a horse.
SIMON: You've got a moment of self-discovery in the film. Did that come about from making the film, do you think? Did making this film cause you to get a hold of certain things?
T ZIMIGA: You know, I think it's helped me a lot. I think, honestly, Kate's helped me a lot. I was just kind of getting by day by day, and constantly angry. Like, you know, the world isn't fair, and it's hard to keep standing. And having the will to continue on all the time was getting really hard. And with Kate coming in and doing this, I mean, it's like a whirlwind of emotions in a tornado. And right now I'm full of anxiety again because I'm getting ready to show it to the people I love and care about, and it's terrifying.
SIMON: Tabatha Zimiga is an actor who plays herself, and Kate Beecroft is the writer and director of the film "East Of Wall" - in cinemas now. Thank you both for being with us.
BEECROFT: Thank you so much for having us.
T ZIMIGA: Thank you.
SIMON: And if you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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