- Cinematography
- Tracking the White Reindeer
- The Reindeer People
- Balapan
Over the years he has produced three award-winning films, numerous articles and a single important photographic collection concentrating on Mongolia’s nomadic culture at the cusp of a great irreversible change. His documentary film ‘The Reindeer People’ was awarded the prize for the Best Film on Mountain Culture at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film Festival in Canada (2004). His second film Balapan: Wings of Altai, which documents the life and traditions of the Kazak shepherds of the Altai, again received the award for best film on culture at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival (2006) and the Banff Mountain Film Festival (2006). His third film ‘Tracking the White Reindeer’, for the third consecutive time, received the prize for Best film on Culture at Banff (2008), as well as other awards in international festivals.
Tracking the White Reindeer
In the snow-covered plains of northern Mongolia live the Tsaatan nomads. The young Quizilol and the beautiful Solongo are in love. To prove to Solongo’s father that he is man enough to marry his daughter, Quizilol has to show he is capable of raising a herd of reindeer by himself. His family gives him a young stallion to start off. During a blizzard however, the stallion escapes into the spirit dwelling mountains. If it crosses the nearby Russian border, it will be lost forever. The young man can only count on himself to capture the animal. Only if he succeeds will he marry Solongo.
The Reindeer People
In Northern Mongolia, there exists a sacred alliance between people, ancestor spirits and reindeer. This film is an intimate portrait of a family of Dukha reindeer nomads following their migration through the forests of Mongolia’s Hovsgol province. They move with a herd of about a hundred reindeer through a sacred forest inhabited by the spirits of their ancestors, who communicate to the living through songs. The oldest Dukha, is a divine seer, a 96-year old shaman, called Tsuyan. She is the link between the healing songs of the forest ancestors, her people and their reindeer. She is the centerpiece of an extraordinary adventure that unites people and animals in one of the wildest regions of Mongolia – where people still live and hunt in a forest dominated by supernatural beings. To live in harmony with them, people had to learn to respect nature and animals and to pass down their beliefs, from generation to generation, by invoking the song-lines of their deceased ancestors.
Balapan, Wings of the Altai
In the Deloun valley, in western Mongolia, Sheik Pawli struggles to keep his sheep herd alive from hungry wolves. This year, winter has been particularly rough and an unusually large number of wolves have been roaming around the villlages. If the people of the valley don’t fight back, their herds will disappear and they too will die. Sheik Pawli has decided to organize a massive wolf hunt and gathers all the breeders of the steppe who own golden eagles, because in the Altaï desert, the ancestral tradition of eagle taming is perpetuated by fearsome eagle masters. Khoda Bergen is 14 years-old and dreams of participating in the hunt. With his uncle Pawli, one of the greatest Kazakh eagle masters, he will capture and train a Balapan, a young eagle. If he succeeds, he will be entitled to join the wolf hunters in their quest. As the great hunt begins, the wolves should beware…