TO KILL A MONGOLIAN HORSE

Director: Xiaoxuan Jiang

Saina’s father never taught him to ride: he simply put him on the back of a horse, a Mongolian herdsman’s natural habitat. Saina now earns his living performing spectacular tricks in equestrian shows for tourists, trying to make enough money to cover his father’s gambling debts as well as support his little son. His true vocation, however, is caring for his sheep and horses on the grasslands that stretch as far as the eye can see - a way of life under threat from climate change, encroaching poverty and profiteering mining companies. A moving, superbly shot portrait of a man clinging to the things that make that life worthwhile: the endless sky, the silence, his herdsman’s heritage and his beloved horses.