| MONGOLIA |
| THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL |
Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi
Falorni |
Davaa and Falorni’s singular “narrative-documentary”
has proven to be an international audience hit and is this
year’s Mongolian submission for the Best Foreign Film
Oscar. In the Gobi desert in southern Mongolia, a family of
nomadic shepherds help one of their camels give birth. Weakened
by the long delivery, the camel refuses to suckle the little
one and rejects it. In order to help it live, the nomads have
one last-ditch option: to seek help in music. Following an
ancient ritual, the shepherds sing and play their violins
for the two camels until the mother falls into a trance. Huge
tears of regret fill the camel’s eyes and, finally,
she accepts the baby as her own. Quietly observational, intimate
and never intrusive, the filmmakers rely on the inherently
fascinating nature of their subjects and the vast and beautiful
landscape that surrounds them to cast an original point of
view on the relationship between humans and animals. (93 mins.)
Print courtesy of Thinkfilm.
First Feature.
SHOWTIMES: 2/26, 6pm GU and
2/28, 4:45pm B1. |
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