Film premiere screening in Los Olivos
Co-hosted by the Santa Ynez Valley Grange
The Santa Ynez Valley premiere of the award-winning documentary Cowboy Meditations will be Tuesday, April 21 at the Santa Ynez Valley Grange Hall, 2734 Alamo Pintado Ave. in Los Olivos, with screenings at 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Both showings will be followed by Q & A with the film’s director Gary Milliken. He will be joined by the subject of his documentary, Cuyama cowboy and poet Dick Gibford. A suggested $5 donation at the door will benefit the Santa Ynez Valley Grange and Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society, which are co-hosting this event.
A decade in the making, Cowboy Meditations is the directorial debut for Gary Milliken, a long-time Santa Barbara resident and backcountry explorer. After meeting Dick Gibford while on a backpacking trip in the remote Sierra Madre Mountains of northeastern Santa Barbara County, Milliken inquired if he could make a film about him and Gibford agreed. The result is Cowboy Meditations, a lyrical portrait of a modern-day working cowboy and poet.
Most of the documentary was filmed in the mountains above the Cuyama Valley, where Gibford, 76, works as a cowboy for the expansive Reyes Ranch. He lives a simple, solitary life at a cabin during summer and in a trailer in the foothills in winter. In addition to watching the cattle, doing ranch chores, and maintaining fences, he trains horses, braids rawhide, and writes poetry. He keeps the hustle of the modern world at bay to maintain a way of life that dates back to an earlier era. Gibford has traveled to the annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada where Milliken filmed his well-received poetry readings.
“His quiet lifestyle, living close to nature in solitude, is the source of his creativity,” says Milliken. “In Cowboy Meditations I strived to capture with few words the timeless inseparable relationship between a man and the land that shapes him,” he added. The film was voted “Best Feature Documentary” by members of the Screen Actors Guild at the recent Wild West Film Festival.
How to Attend
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Screenings at 4:00 and 6:30 p.m.
Santa Ynez Valley Grange Hall, 2734 Alamo Pintado Ave., Los Olivos
Showings will be followed by Q & A with the film’s director Gary Milliken.
Light refreshments will be served after the event.
Suggested donation: $5 at the door as a benefit to the Santa Ynez Valley Grange and Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society
