Two Horses of Genghis Khan

Das Lied von den zwei Pferden

Germany, Mongolia

2009

91 Min

Color

1.85:1

Mongolian

Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
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PROD Byambasuren Davaa, Beatrix Wesle

CAST Urna Chahar-Tugchi, Hicheengui Sambuu, Chimed Dolgor

MUSIC Ganpurev Dagvan, Jana Musik

Locarno (Piazza Grande), AFI FEST, Melbourne (Documentaries), Mill Valley (Docs)

Synopsis

Unlike any other song, Chingisiyn hoyor zagal (Genghis Khan’s Two Horses) recounts the tumultuous History of Mongolia. For singer Urna, this litany is also part of her identity, since she has promised her dying grandmother to bring back to the family a horse-shaped violin neck on which its lyrics are inscribed. This is the only part left of this typically Mongolian instrument, broken and then lost during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and Urna sets off to find it on a journey that is also a voyage of discovery of her own country and her roots. In her latest documentary, the filmmaker follows Urna into the wild landscapes of Outer and Inner Mongolia. There she meets musicians, shamans, and violin makers who, each in his own way, will yield up to her the secrets of the song of Genghis Khan’s two horses. —Locarno Film Festival

Director

Byambasuren Davaa

Byambasuren Davaa was born in 1971 in Ulaanbaatar/Mongolia. From 1989 to 1994 she worked as a speaker and assistant director for Mongolia\’s Public TV. From 1995 to 1998 she attended the Film Academy in Ulaanbaatar, followed by studies at Munich’s University of Television & Film (HFF/M) in the documentary department. Her films include: One World, Two Economies (1993), Das orange Pferd (1999), Wunsch (2001), _Unterwegs, Portrait of a Girl _(2003), The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel, 2003) which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 for Best Documentary Feature, The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Die Hoehle des gelben Hundes, 2005), and The Two Horses of Genghis Khan (Die zwei Pferde des Dschingis Khan, 2009). —german films