At the age of 3, Campbell attended a rodeo with his father Jay, a former bull rider, and became immediately intrigued by mutton busting. A few weeks later, Campbell returned to the rodeo as a competitor and has been hooked since. Fast forward to 2024 and he is one of the preeminent talents at the Professional Bull Riders Unleash The Beast, Jan. 26-27, and a contender for this season’s PBR World Championship. Campbell, 25, is one of the top 40 riders in the world participating in the elite competition back in Houston for the first time in five years. The upcoming tour stop is at Toyota Center, the home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets.
Campbell first broke onto the PBR scene in 2020, making a stellar second-half push to qualify for the first PBR World Finals of his career. At his first appearance at the sport’s most prestigious event, Campbell went a near-perfect 4-for-5, including two 90-point rides, winning the World Finals, and catapulting from No. 33 to No. 3 in the world to capture the coveted title Rookie of the Year.
During the 2023 individual season, he returned to top form and finished inside the Top 10 for the third time in his young career. He is currently No. 22 in the standings, having logged four Top-15 finishes to date. Now a key member of the Carolina Cowboys on PBR Teams, Campbell is also featured on the Prime Video docuseries “The Ride.”
The highlight of bull riding for Campbell is the challenge. “More than competing against the other riders, the part I like is the adrenaline rush by conquering the beast and the feeling when you did your job well and safely,” said Campbell. He also enveloped the culture immediately when becoming pro. “People in the sport are so loving and friendly and I’ve met so many great families.”
Champion bull riders can have a lucrative career, but it requires a lot of endurance and stamina. “The most difficult part of the career is staying in tip-top shape, going to the gym daily, eating healthy, sleeping and just staying well in general.” Campbell adds, “There are trials and tribulations every day in this sport. You can be on top of your game after one competition and at the very bottom the next.” Campbell knows he can’t be a bull rider forever, but he says, “I’ll be in this industry forever in some capacity.”
When not traveling or training for a competition, Campbell enjoys basketball, hanging out with family and friends, roping and riding horses. “I’ve been immersed in western lifestyle for as long as I can remember, and around horses and cattle since I could walk.”
The young ladies may wonder, is the exuberant and ambitious cowboy single? Yes!
'Orca'
The award-winning, highly acclaimed films scheduled for the festival include documentaries, family comedies, romantic dramas, and a couple of experimentally realized slasher films. One of the must-sees is Orca (2021), directed by Tehran-born Sahar Mosayebi, and starring Taraneh Alidoosti as Elham who, after nearly beaten to death by her husband, tries to drown herself in the ocean. But being a born athlete, she survives and goes on to confront the religious mores of her country (“In an Islamic country, women don’t swim!”) by becoming an endurance swimmer and attempting to swim farther than anyone has done before — with her hands bound in handcuffs.
'A Revolution on Canvas'
At the other end of the spectrum, Sundance Film Festival favorite The Persian Version (2023) is a whipsmart dramedy featuring Layla Mohammadi as Iranian-American, queer-identifying Leila, who wryly navigates the seemingly irreconcilable expectations of her two cultures. And in the award-winning documentary A Revolution on Canvas (2023), filmmakers Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder delve into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of more than 100 paintings by Sara’s father, Iranian artist and activist Nikzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi, who in 1980, fled Iran following the censorship of his solo exhibition Report on the Revolution and its shutdown at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Also screening at the MFAH are Parviz Shahbazi’s Roxana (2023) and Terrestrial Verses (2023).
Winners (2022), a dramatic film about two children in a small Iranian community who discover an Academy Award statuette (or “Oscar”) in a garbage dump and proceed to seek out its owner, screens Jan. 27 at Asia Society Texas Center. And on Feb. 2-3, Rice Cinema presents two of director Shahram Mokri’s horror films: Fish and Cat (2013), which unfolds in a non-linear single, uncut 135-minute shot, and the similarly grisly and tense Invasion (2017).
'The Persian Version'