A tented district of Ulaanbaatar is the backdrop as a gifted student with a chance to succeed and move away finds himself having to care for his siblings
A valuable debut feature from 34-year-old Mongolian film-maker Zoljargal Purevdash, inspired by her childhood experiences of studying for a life-changing educational scholarship, as well as by the poverty-stricken tented yurt district of the capital Ulaanbaatar where her mother owned a shop and where she saw the customers’ tough lives. In the film, Purevdash has gender-switched her physics-student teen hero to a boy and evidently fictionalised her own school challenges by transplanting them to a family from just this kind of deprived background, battling against hardship and the bitter and terrible cold, yearning to be able to see out the winter by hibernating, like a bear. Unable to afford coal, kids rip up wooden planks from fences and go on illegal “logging” raids into surrounding woodland.
A valuable debut feature from 34-year-old Mongolian film-maker Zoljargal Purevdash, inspired by her childhood experiences of studying for a life-changing educational scholarship, as well as by the poverty-stricken tented yurt district of the capital Ulaanbaatar where her mother owned a shop and where she saw the customers’ tough lives. In the film, Purevdash has gender-switched her physics-student teen hero to a boy and evidently fictionalised her own school challenges by transplanting them to a family from just this kind of deprived background, battling against hardship and the bitter and terrible cold, yearning to be able to see out the winter by hibernating, like a bear. Unable to afford coal, kids rip up wooden planks from fences and go on illegal “logging” raids into surrounding woodland.
- 4/17/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
South Korean director Hong Sang-soo was awarded the El Gouna Gold Star for best narrative film for his meditation on art and relationships, “In Our Day,” as the delayed edition of the El Gouna Film Festival held its closing ceremony on Thursday. The Italian animated film “A Greyhound of a Girl,” directed by Enzo D’Alò, and the Brazilian director Guto Parente’s “A Strange Path” picked up the Silver and Bronze Stars respectively.
The jury comprised of Indian director Anup Singh, Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak, Palestinian actress Yasmine Al-Massri, French Lebanese actress Manal Issa and Egyptian filmmaker Omar El Zohairy.
In the non-fiction category, Ibrahim Nash’at’s acclaimed documentary “Hollywoodgate” took the top prize, with “Seven Winters in Tehran” and Mila Turajlić’s Serbian film “Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels” sharing the Silver Star, and “On the Adamant,” directed by French director Nicolas Philibert, taking the Bronze Star. The...
The jury comprised of Indian director Anup Singh, Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak, Palestinian actress Yasmine Al-Massri, French Lebanese actress Manal Issa and Egyptian filmmaker Omar El Zohairy.
In the non-fiction category, Ibrahim Nash’at’s acclaimed documentary “Hollywoodgate” took the top prize, with “Seven Winters in Tehran” and Mila Turajlić’s Serbian film “Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels” sharing the Silver Star, and “On the Adamant,” directed by French director Nicolas Philibert, taking the Bronze Star. The...
- 12/22/2023
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
Meeting a down-to-earth talent in Cannes is always a bit of a shock, especially if it's a one-on-one interview in a nice setting, untimed by the publicists who handle the red carpet folks, telling you how privileged you are to be granted five minutes to be in their presence. This year is parfticularly challenging for the journalists accredited in Cannes, since they are told that some stars won't be giving any interviews at all, and if they kind of are, those turn out to be junkets involving so many people at the table, that the same gig gets published in 23 languages the next day.
The talent we spoke to is writing history. Zoljargal Purevdash is not only the first Mongolian director with a film in festival's 76-year-old existence, but her debut feature “If Only I Could Hibernate” that runs for both The Golden Camera Award and the main prize of the Un Certain Regard competition,...
The talent we spoke to is writing history. Zoljargal Purevdash is not only the first Mongolian director with a film in festival's 76-year-old existence, but her debut feature “If Only I Could Hibernate” that runs for both The Golden Camera Award and the main prize of the Un Certain Regard competition,...
- 5/25/2023
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
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