“People hear the title and think this documentary is about the prison rodeo, but it’s really about so much more,” film maker Bradley Beesley commented on his documentary set to air tonight exclusively on Cinemax HD at 7 p.m.

“Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo,” filmed and produced over a three year period, chronicles the first Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo appearance by female offenders, as well as participation by prison rodeo veteran Danny Liles.

“I grew up in Oklahoma, so I knew about the prison rodeo, but had never gone,” said Beesley, who was raised near Oklahoma City and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. “I was working in San Francisco in 2006, and I caught a story in the Washington Post saying that they were going to allow female inmates to participate. I thought, ‘I've got to do it.’ I booked a flight that night, showed up with my camera and my buddy, James. I had no idea I’d end up spending three years making a documentary.”

The rodeo is an interesting story, but not the main attraction, Beesley said.

“I was so compelled by the people I met,” he said. “We met with Danny Liles in his holding cell before the rodeo started. He made a comment that really stuck with me.

“He said, ‘Just because you kill someone, that doesn’t make you a killer.’ I felt there were probably some lawyers that might disagree with that,” Beesley said. “But it made me think, ‘What are we doing here? Why are we making heroes out of these convicted felons?’”

Sitting in the stands, watching the rough stock events, Beesley was shocked at the emotions he discovered.

“We’d only talked with Liles for about an hour, and then we went to the arena. He was in one of the first events, probably 15 minutes into the rodeo, and I found that I was worried about him.

“He was in the bull riding, and I just kept thinking that professional cowboys that do this for a living get hurt, and here he was, with his few days’ preparation.”

Liles came out of the chute and hit the ground a few jumps later, but Beesley was impressed with the courage and try Liles showed.

“He got bucked off, but somehow we were really proud of him,” Beesley said. “We got so caught up in the emotion of the sport. This experience humanized these people for us. The whole time, I just kept thinking ‘This guy’s got a mother that loves him, he’s not just an inmate.’ It definitely made me want to do this film.”

What started as a quick trip to satisfy curiosity in August of 2006 has resulted in a project that is turning heads and changing lives, with screenings and premieres that started in August of 2009, said Beesley, who directed the film and co-produced it with fellow Oklahomans James Payne, of Ardmore, and Wilburton’s Amy Dotson.

“We spent a lot of time at the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft,” Beesley added. “We really got to know the women there a lot better than we did the guys.”

Again, Beesley was surprised at the emotions the production evoked.

“We looked forward to going to the prison,” he said of the work he and his crew did following four female offenders through their days leading up to the rodeo. “We learned a lot about who they were. We broke the barrier between inmate and film maker.”

That was three years ago, and things have changed.

“It’s amazing, seeing these four women now, all out and doing well with jobs and everything,” Beesley reflected.

Former inmate and rodeo contestant Jamie Brooks is doing so well, she accompanied the company to New York this week for Press Week, to help promote the film.

All four of the women featured in the film are working to promote it, having gone back behind the walls recently for outreach and a screening at the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center.

“They all went back as four ladies willing to share their experiences,” Beesley said. “It’s part of an outreach program that returns a sense of community within the prison. It offers some hope.”

One of the four will accompany Beesley and his crew to London in October, for a screening there.

Beesley said it’s satisfying to see these women, many of whom followed their mothers’ footsteps into prison, breaking the cycle and making a change, and that’s what the film is really about.

Beesley, who now makes his home in Austin, Texas, credits a lengthy list of help with this project, in addition to producers, production crew, and staff, not the least of which is prison staff.

“The Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo” airs tonight at 7 p.m. on Cinemax HD, and again on Sept. 25 at 7:30 a.m.

For more information on the film, log on to www.sweetheartsofthe

prisonrodeo.com.

Contact Mandy Carter at mcarter@mcalesternews.

com.