Outside the Arena with...
Don Cardona By Georgia Akers Without visual media, our world would be dull. No television shows, no news, no movies and no sports that we can watch from the comfort of our home. I had an opportunity to interview one of those men behind the camera who not only does the camera work but also the editing and producing. His name is Don Cardona. He recently did a short film on a PRCA bull rider that has been selected at the Wild Bunch Film Festival where it is up for multiple awards. We are fortunate to have those video professionals that bring so much to our world. Tell us about yourself. I was born and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado and spent most of my youth playing baseball competitively through high school. I met my wife Erin in Los Angeles while working together at TVG Network. We have two kids, my son Alex is entering his senior year of high school and my daughter Samantha is a sophomore. I went to Central High School in Grand Junction and then studied at Arizona State University in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
& Telecommunication. I got into sports television as a student, working as a camera operator on live network sports broadcasts and then later moved up to director with TVG Network. I spent 10 years as a live event producer with ESPN and then as Senior Coordinating Producer with Universal Sports Network/NBC Sports covering Olympic and Endurance sports. I’ve been blessed to have produced MLB All Star & World Series games, professional baseball in the Caribbean, Super Bowls, Olympics for NBC and multiple Boston Marathons. I directed a short western film in high school that me and my classmates had fun with and I directed two short films shortly after college. A couple of years ago I directed a 3-minute short about bull riding school called “Punishment” that won Best Documentary in the 2018 My Røde Reel’s International Short Film Competition. You have a film that has been recently selected by the Wild Bunch Film Festival as one of their films. Tell us about Wild Bunch Film Festival and your film? The 6th Annual Wild Bunch Film Festival is a western-genre festival that runs September 30-October 3 and coincides with the 71st Rex Allen Rodeo Days. TWBFF was tops on my festival submission list mainly because of the natural fit, but because it also has a lot of fun activities that go along with the festival, such as a parade, car show and gun show and there appears to be some really good short, narrative and documentary films this year. My film, “Buckin’ Bulls: The Story of Ty Rinaldo” will make its World Premiere. It shows how events are produced, the logistics that go into it and shows how young bull riders can improve their skills. And it also gives some perspective from PBR rider Chase Outlaw and World Champs Cody Custer and Lyle Sankey. The film was nominated for seven awards, including Best
Humps-Horns.com · 9 · October 2021
