An exquisite hand-drawn biopic about 12 year-old Martha (Calamity) Jane’s perilous, but empowering journey along the Oregon Trailer to the west with her family in 1863. When her mother dies along the way, she has to help care for her younger siblings, and when her father is critically injured by their horse, she has to manage with the reluctant help of other members of the wagon train, learning to defy female stereotypes by secretly teaching herself to lasso, ride, and drive the wagon, trading in her skirt for a pair of pants, and cutting her hair short. When accused of stealing the settlers’ possessions, she runs away in pursuit of the real thief, disguised as a boy. The film should be required viewing by all gradeschoolers, regardless of gender. Winner of the Cristal Award at the Annecy Animation Festival in 2020.