In honor of National Ag Day, I’m beyond excited to share the trailer for a film project very close to my heart.
You Just Can’t See Them From the Road is my first full-length documentary. My sister Michaela and I had been wanting to shoot a film on the vanishing ranches of the American West for some time when California Rangeland Trust, a rancher-led trust with over 400,000 acres of protected working rangeland, approached us about creating a film for their 25th anniversary. They gave us great trust and creative freedom to tell this story about West Coast ranching—the men and women who feed us and sustain our landscapes, who you just can’t see from the road.
Our bare bones crew consisted of my co-director Michaela, cinematographer-editor Christian May, producer Karla Miller, and myself. We traveled up and down the state of California to film this story in a matter of days. We were as bootstrapped as they come, but the four of us cared about the story and the subjects and that made the difference.
Throughout production, the iconic song by Chris LeDoux was stuck in my head—hence the name. These are the men and women who steward our land. They are essential to our well-being, our way of life, the stories we tell about ourselves as a nation, and they are largely forgotten.
I’ll always be grateful for this inaugural project, a talented and dedicated team, and above all, the chance to profile such unforgettable subjects.
Film Synopsis
An immigrant family in California’s Central Valley faces the loss of their land and way of life. One of the few remaining ranching families in the Bay Area watches urban sprawl creep in from every direction. Cowboys work in the shadow of the historic Hearst Castle. Wildlife find refuge on the biggest expanse of private land in Southern California. One of the largest Black landowners in the state discovers Native American artifacts on his ranch.
Directed by Keely Brazil Covello and Michaela Brazil Gillies for California Rangeland Trust, “You Just Can’t See Them From the Road” is a documentary portrait of the vanishing ranchers of the American West—invisible to and misunderstood by the rapidly modernizing society they sustain.
Crew & Production Photos
Meet The Directors
Keely Brazil Covello and Michaela Brazil Gillies are sisters, entrepreneurs, and award-winning documentary filmmakers. The daughters of ranch veterinarians in remote Northern California, after attending school and working in major cities across the country they felt called to bridge the rural-urban divide through storytelling. Michaela is a CPA with a background in business and tax accounting, Keely is a journalist. Together they created Go West Media and helped found Ranch Vision, a ranching software company.
You Just Can’t See Them From the Road is their first feature-length film. In 2024 they were accepted to the Palladium Pictures documentary film incubator in Washington, D.C. Their short documentary High Country Murder looked into the unsolved murder of an elderly rancher in Humboldt County, California.
Awards & Accolades
You Just Can’t See Them From the Road was featured in over 20 film festivals across the country and received a number of awards including Best Documentary, Best Director, and People’s Choice.
Film Poster
Photo Gallery
Photos by Karla Miller
Film Stills
For a list of upcoming screenings and to stay up-to-date on distribution and where to watch, click here.
Share this post