WUNRN
MONGOLIA FAMILY
Photographer LIVIA MONAMI
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Gobi Women's Song
Film by Sas Carey
Set against the
background of barren expanses, Gobi
Women’s Song immerses the viewer in a different world. It
is a world in a transitional moment, one that has occurred in all cultures,
which decides the future lives, environment and life style of its people. Five
21st century nomadic women share the rhythm of their harsh daily lives. They
hum the song of the soul passed down from their grandmothers and at the same
time deal with the pressing issues of today’s world.
Through interviews that
span four years, the film captures the rhythms of the harsh daily life of Gobi
women and their families. Life here depends on connection—connection with the
environment, community, and family. The ground Gobi women live on is fragile,
incapable of supporting agriculture. We see that they need to move 4-5 times a
year to feed their animals and rest the pastures. In this way, they maintain a
balance between themselves and their land.
We watch Gobi women make
everything they need: felt from fleece sheared from their sheep, cheese,
yoghurt, butter, and dried curds from their animal’s milk. Their staple, milk
tea, comes from well water hand drawn up, carried by metal pail, heated by
burning the dung collected from livestock. They milk their goats, horses, and
camels. We learn that the tea itself, a brick of leaves and stems, comes from
trading cashmere combed from their goats. Like our grandmothers before us, life
asks everything of these women. There is no down- time. Nomadic life today is
only possible because of hard-working women.
In this desolate and
barren land, as beautiful as any on earth, we find that the dreams of Gobi
women are like our own—they want their children to grow up and have a good
life. They wish for good health. The women, true to their custom of
hospitality, open their lives to us. They honor us with invitations to go to
their land, go inside their homes, and their hospital. In this sensitive
documentary, doctors, bone healers, and single women share their hopes and
fears, their joy and laughter, their children, animals and even their births.
As we get to know them, we hold them in our hearts. We relate to them. Yet, we
learn that many factors are changing and we wonder what the future will bring
them.
Director and Producer:
Sas Carey; Editor: Dónal Ó'Céilleachair; Sound Design: Anna Halldórsdottir;
Cinematographer: Joseph Spaid; Camera: L. Mendbayar and J. Nyamadorj
Funded in part by the
Mongolian American Cultural Association, Sustainable Futures Fund with The
Vermont Community Foundation, the Vermont Arts Council, and the National
Endowment for the Arts.