Outrider

Drew4.0

Outriders is a new documentary about the poet and artist, Anne Waldman, and her lifelong pursuit to spread love, life, and art. Outrider is also the type of person Waldman describes herself and her peers as. Its a term pulled from shepherding which means one who travels ahead or beside in order to guide and protect; a trailblazer or forerunner. These folks exist on the shallow margins of society, tapping into a lesser understood or accepted perception of the world that's focused primarily on understanding, acceptance, persistence, and fulfillment. Outriders are an endangered tribe, the film claims, who's footholds and training grounds in the world are under constant threat, but they definitely showed out at Anthology Film Archives to honor one of the best of them. It was powerful to see the convergence of multiple generations pile into the same theater to celebrate the power of poetry and know that the Anne's creed will not die out with her generation. Alystyre Julian's documentary is itself a work of poetry which works in tandem, not quite in unison, but together with Waldman's to transcend medium and approach a larger point about the vastness, richness, or impact a live devoted to art and activism can have. I'm grateful I got to be in the room to witness it.2025 Ranked

Juanita

though I live in this slimy, dark age / I still aspire to transform

Teenagecaveman4.0

This is a remarkable achievement I walked into the theater because it sounded interesting but had literally no context for Anne Waldman or the poets she worked with or the current scene but the director Alystyre and her editors have put together an incredible document which acts as both archival look back but also holds the present and future in high regard A film that makes you want to make art rather than sit as a consumer of itI fear I may be overselling this but I again walked into with no expectations and was just agog; astounded at every decision being the right one in that moment and also overall. Luckily Martin Scorsese’s name may get this additional cache so more people can see it. If you get the chance to see it, do so.