CHEYENNE (TIFF 2026) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin
The young woman at the edge of the practice arena trembles with fear and excitement. Ally, a slim cowgirl with a long blond braid and a huge belt buckle, takes her hands and jumps with her to shake it off.
“You wanna ride buckin’ horses?” Ally says. “And be a bad bitch at it?”
The younger woman nods and laughs.
Ally would know. She’s one of a handful of women in the documentary Cheyenne driven to compete at riding wild broncos on the rodeo circuit after the sport excluded them for roughly a century. Debuting at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, the film builds to the final competition at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming—the end-of-season rodeo billed as “the Daddy of them all.”
Directed by Taimi Arvidson (From This Small Place) and produced in part by Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager, Cheyenne covers a smattering of women’s rodeo history through historical footage but largely focuses on four American competitors and their coach, Daryl. There’s no crying in the arena, he warns, calling it “a bad image for everybody.” Anyone flung to the dirt needs to walk it off with a wave and a smile.
“A guy gets hurt, it’s like, I hope he’s OK. A girl gets hurt, it’s like, she shouldn’t have been out there competing,” he explains.
The reasons to compete vary. There’s prize money, of course, but also a deeper desire for the grit and respect that only staying on a bronc for at least eight seconds can bring. Bee, a single mother who left an abusive relationship, finds riding a release. So does Lake, nicknamed “the flyin’ Hawaiian.” Her competitive focus, she admits, keeps her from thinking about her mother, who died the previous year.
Ally survived several assaults. She paints her nails, points out the scars on her hands, and notes she’s struggled with knowing where she fits. Nestled in the chute, securing her grip and her posture, she nods for the arena gate to swing wide. Consent is “sacred” here, she says. “Nothing happens till you nod your head.”
Arvidson and editor Georgia Dodson intersperse quiet interviews with sweeping wide shots of Colorado, Missouri, and other stops from the women’s homes and the rodeos’ raucous atmosphere. Fringed shirts and other Western fashion give way to sparkly eyeshadow, mascara, shots, and dancing, a black eye or sore wrist be damned.
Cheyenne includes a quick expected montage of the dudes who think rodeoing isn’t among the “certain things” women should do, but thankfully, the women here don’t get a lot of guff. One senses they wouldn’t put up with much of it.
Rather, cinematographer Nick Midwig makes their skills the stars of the show. Midwig uses ample slow motion wide shots to capture the riders as the horses buck and kick to throw them off; a clock counts crucial seconds in the corner of the frame. Newcomer Brooke is the only one who wears a helmet, but even this doesn’t reduce the heart-in-your-throat tension as we watch these women fight, twist, and often crash to the ground, sometimes inches from being trampled.
Those moments in the arena and these women’s scrappy determination fill Cheyenne with admiration for those who battle their fears and demons through riding, finding the will to get back up again.
