Source: Some information on this page may have been sourced as part of the 2023 Wikimedia Australia Partnership Projects grant, with the purpose of improving and expanding the use of Wikidata on our website. Wikidata is a free and open knowledge base that can be read and edited by both humans and machines. Read more about this project here.
Set in the Gobi Desert, Southern Mongolia, this narrative-style documentary explains a wonderful custom that could be used as an allegory for motherhood in the modern world. Made by two student filmmakers, they travel to Mongolia to meet a family of three generations living a simple nomadic lifestyle. During the spring, one of the family’s camels has a difficult delivery, giving birth to a rare white colt but she then rejects the youngster. Two family members set off to fetch a musician who plays a violin-like stringed instrument. The musician and a female family member perform a simple ritual that will re-unite the mother camel with her young. Striking landscape vistas and moving insight into the nomadic family life are captured by Luigi Falorni’s cinematography in this poignant representation of folklore and traditional storytelling. Nominated in the 2004 Academy Awards for Best Documentary (feature length).
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
319107
Languages
English
Mongolian
Mongolian
Audience classification
PG
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Foreign language films
Animals & Wildlife → Animal behavior
Animals & Wildlife → Animal films
Animals & Wildlife → Animals - Infancy
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Folklore
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Gobi Desert (Mongolia and China)
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Mongolia
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Nomads
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Rites and ceremonies
Climate, Environment, Natural Resources & Disasters → Deserts
Documentary → Documentary films - Germany
Music & Performing Arts → Folk music
Music & Performing Arts → Stringed instruments
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
DVD; Access Print (Section 1)