White Beauty

Synopsis

The Lipizzaner horses are famous around the world, those striking white stallions that entrance with their grace of movement and their majesty.

Our film opens at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Here, the white stallions perform a breathtaking display of beauty and power that celebrate a perfect harmony between horse and rider. These carefully choreographed and synchronized movements were originally intended for war. Then, only the strongest and most athletic of the horses were chosen. The Lipizzaner stallion was bred for his courage, his strength and his character. Yet, he is at heart gentle and sensitive, responsive to praise while rebellious to the use of force against him. The performance of the White Stallions is the demonstration of a unique relationship between horse and rider, each reliant upon the other.

From the reminders of the days when Vienna was the centre of an Empire, we move to an old castle far off in the mountains of Austria. Here, where history is surrounded by Alpine meadows, the mares give birth each year to almost fifty foals that will become the next generation of stallions. These seemingly delicate foals are destined to become the famous White Stallions, and we follow the creation of the unique relationship that binds horse and rider together. It seems almost impossible that the tentative steps of the young horses will be transformed into the grace and dignity of the stallions when they perform.

‘White Beauty’ will be a stunning and visual film that tells the history of one of the oldest breed of horse in the world. Using the latest technology of high definition and digital ultra-high speed cameras, the film will celebrate the classical art of dressage when horse and rider become as one in a ballet of exquisite grace and beauty.

The film will tell the vibrant history of the world famous Lipizzaner Stallions. From their origins in ancient times, to the almost unknown drama of their rescue in 1945. But the focus of the film will be through a year in time when that bond grows between stallion and rider, a relationship that is unique to each Lipizzaner stallion and his rider.

ALSO AVAILABLE AS ‘Legendary White Stallions’ (1×53’), particularly highlighting the history of the Lipizzaners’ breed from the deserts of Morocco to the pastures around the Piber Federal Stud in western Styria, until their time in the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

Produced by Satel Film and ScienceVision in association with ServusTV and Terra Mater Factual Studios funded by Cinestyria , Fernsehfonds Austria Filmfonds Wien and Land NÖ