Aurora Picture Show's Alternative Rodeo

Marco Torres

Saturday night, supporters of Aurora Picture Show showed up at an old, closed-down Academy store in Hedwig Village for Steers & Beers, an "alternative rodeo," featuring mechanical bull riding, keg roping, steer decorating, brews by Saint Arnold, and of course a "curated series of artist-made films about cowboys, rodeos, and all things Western." Aurora curator Mary Magsamen selected the short films, which included archival rodeo footage, as well as bullriding film juxtaposed with dramatic music, like Mary Lucier's kaleidoscopic Arabesque and Ramzy Telley's mesmerizing and gut-wrenching Death in Vegas (in which the actual death of a bullrider is captured on camera).

Click ahead for more photos and Telley's film Death in Vegas.

Marco Torres

Marco Torres

Marco Torres

Marco Torres

Death In Vegas from Ramzy Telley on Vimeo.