[Tenure Period]

About MILES TO ROAM is a feature documentary about Caitlyn and Vicki Taussig, daughter and mother cattle ranchers, living the life they love in the mountains of Colorado. As a songwriter and performer, Caitlyn poetically expresses the sacrifice, physical toll and singular beauty of her chosen life on the range through her music.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Directed, Produced, Edited by Amy Adrion

I'd spend my youth
Out on the prairie
Too wild to get married
Too broke to go home
Days and weeks in the saddle
Just the sky and the cattle
And miles to roam
-Caitlyn Taussig

I first became aware of Caitlyn and Vicki Taussig when I read an article in The New York Times titled “Female Ranchers Are Reclaiming the American West. “ I was intrigued by these rugged women, and became even more interested after discovering Caitlyn’s music that beautifully explores the freedom and sacrifice of her ranching life. After conversations with Caitlyn and Vicki about our interest in making an independent documentary, Cinematographer Yamit Shimonovitz and I headed out to Kremmling, CO where we witnessed first hand just how self-reliant, humble, funny, creative and kind these women are, as they took daily care of Caitlyn’s elderly father and Vicki’s husband, Jim Taussig, all of their animals, the land, and each other.

Shortly after filming with Caitlyn and Vicki, I accepted a job at RIT and moved with my two children from Los Angeles to Rochester, NY, necessitating a break from editing as I began teaching full time. In April 2024, I received an RIT FEAD (Faculty Education and Development) Grant to support editorial work on the film that resulted in a 70 minute work-in-progress cut. I shared that edit with Caitlyn and Vicki who were no strangers to film crews, having been featured in news stories and short films throughout the years. They were frank in their emotional response to the footage that included difficulty seeing how frail Jim was, as he had passed only two months after we filmed.

Caitlyn and Vicki agreed to let us come back to film in Summer 2025. Funded by RIT’s Professional Start Up funds and my personal contribution, we traveled to Taussig Ranch in Kremmling, Colorado and Encampment, Wyoming where Caitlyn was headlining the annual Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering, a music, arts and culture festival committed to preserving and promoting Cowboy & Western ways and life.

Cinematographer Julia Golonka, who shot and directed DON’T PUT HER DOWN about legendary bluegrass singer Hazel Dickins, Rosie Sirk, my former student and Teaching Assistant, and I flew from Baltimore, Los Angeles and Rochester, respectively, to film with Caitlyn and Vicki.

It was wonderful to see them again, like catching up with old friends.

I am reminded of this passage from the journalist Lillian Ross’s seminal book, THE PICTURE (1952), that documents the making of John Huston’s epic THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE (1951) :

“Anyone who trusts you enough to talk about himself to you is giving you a form of friendship. You are not “doing him a favor” by writing about him, even if he happens to be in a profession or business in which publicity of any kind is valued.  If you spend weeks or months with someone, not only taking his time and energy but entering into his life, you naturally become his friend.”

Change “him” to “her,” and substitute “writing about” with “filming,” and you’ve got a poignant description of documentary filmmaking. I am indebted to Caitlyn and Vicki for sharing a bit of their lives with us, and for their friendship.

Peer Review MILES TO ROAM was selected to screen as a work-in-progress at the UFVA (University Film & Video) Conference in Minneapolis, MN in July 2026.

The University Film and Video Association (UFVA) is a not-for-profit organization and the leading association in the United States dedicated to the promotion and study of moving image practice in higher education

Recipient of 2024 RIT FEAD (Faculty Education and Development) Grant.

Dissemination MILES TO ROAM will be completed in early 2027.