Atlanta documentarian Adelin Gasana first heard about Brandon “Brannu” Fulton through his friend, now producing partner, Julia Griggs. Griggs learned about Fulton – also known as Atlanta’s “Urban Cowboy” – when she saw him riding his horse down the Beltline.
“For us Atlantans, it’s quite the sight,” Gasana said. “A horse on the Beltline is like somebody fell out of the sky, you know?”
Fulton’s name might sound familiar to some, and not just because he lives on a 27-acre ranch in the city of South Fulton with his horses. In the ten years since he bought the property with the intention of turning it into an equestrian center, Fulton has faced numerous legal challenges, including multiple counts of animal cruelty after animal remains and allegedly malnourished animals were found on his property.
According to reports in WSB-TV, in 2017 Fulton was found not guilty on 11 of 12 counts of animal cruelty (he appealed the 12th count). In 2018, a different animal cruelty case against him was dismissed. Despite the case’s dismissal, seven horses that were seized by the county as a result of animal cruelty charges were not returned.
Griggs was drawn to Fulton’s story and initially brought it to Gasana thinking it could make a good news segment. But the first time Gasana stepped onto Fulton’s property, he knew this had to be a full-fledged feature documentary.
“I kid you not, the minute I stepped on that property, all the flashes came at me and the film was done,” Gasana said. “I saw it all. I saw the colors, I saw the drone shots, I saw the close-ups.”
That film, directed by Gasana and produced by Griggs, is “Brannu: The Urban Horseman,” which is set to screen at Georgia Tech on March 18. On March 19, it will play at the Atlanta Documentary Film Festival.
While “Brannu: The Urban Horseman” starts as a story about Fulton and his legal dust-ups as he tries to build his ranch, it expands into broader issues about the history of Black landownership, gentrification, and the role of government.
“Whether Brandon likes to admit it or not, he’s not the only one dealing with the same issue of land grabs, citation issues, eminent domain, hyper gentrification, rapid urbanization,” Gasana said. “As we kept going down this path of retelling the overall story … it just opened up so many other elements of urban agriculture space, urban land ownership, the history of Black land owners, particularly in the deep south.”
Fulton bought his parcel of land in 2016 in what was then unincorporated Fulton County. In 2017, the city of South Fulton incorporated, encompassing Fulton’s property, which sits on the corner of Camp Creek Parkway and Butner Road. The second half of the documentary focuses on the push and pull between the city of South Fulton’s desire to develop the land around Fulton’s property, and his desire to stay the course.
Gasana had always wanted to make a film about urban farming and agriculture, as well as gentrification, and saw this story as an opportunity.
“I said, why not tell a gentrification story through this guy’s eyes? Through this guy’s story,” Gasana said. “Telling it from a land-owning horseman who’s on vacant land and trying to build something on it, right on the corner of a main thoroughfare. It made all the sense.”
The documentary also explores the animal cruelty charges against Fulton. In the film, Fulton complains about the lack of follow through on some of the complaints that neighbors call in (in one scene that takes place in court, he claims that the horses at the center of the animal control complaint in question are not even his).
However, animal rights activists over the years have fought against him and heavily criticized the conditions on his farm. Gasana includes an interview with former Animal Control Officer Beunca Gainor, who doesn’t excuse poor conditions on Fulton’s property, but says she thought that Fulton County Animal Services was too focused on policing Fulton rather than trying to help him build and create a safer environment.
“Here’s a regulatory system that’s supposed to put rules in place for people who break the law, who abuse, who go on the extreme end of things,” Gasana said. “But [they’re] not necessarily there to go after somebody who is just trying to figure it out as he goes. There’s no rulebook into owning 27 acres of raw land, and trying to build with no support, no financial backing, and no apparatus behind you.”
This is part of what drew Gasana to Fulton’s story – the idea of someone stuck between the urban and the rural, trying to build something new.
“He’s not a born criminal. He’s not out here trying to do the worst,” Gasana said. “He has a vision.”