''Khadak'' is a 2006

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German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

drama

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by

Peter Brosens Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

and

Jessica Woodworth Jessica may refer to: Given name * Jessica (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Jessica Folcker, a Swedish singer known by the mononym Jessica * Jessica Jung, a Korean-American singer known by the ...

Production

The idea of ''Khadak'' was born in 1999 when Peter Brosens was filming the last part of his Mongolian trilogy, ''Poets of Mongolia''. In Mongolia he met Jessica Woodworth, who was working on her documentary ''Urga's Song''. Together they started researching a documentary about aviation and socialism in Mongolia, but soon felt that the one-hour time frame of a documentary could not accommodate the ideas they wanted to express. The movie was co-produced by Germany (Ma.Ja.De Filmproduktions-GmbH) and the Netherlands (Lemming Film).

Plot

The film is set in the

steppes In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and takes place during winter in the latter half of the 20th century. It explores the events which concern Bagi, a

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

herder, during his coming of age and the forced relocation of his people. Bagi has

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

and is subject to fits which cause

visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

and

out-of-body experiences An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly use ...

. When local officials claim that a disease is killing the livestock his family relies on, Bagi and many others are forcibly relocated and made to work at an

open pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

mining

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

. Eventually, Bagi meets a woman named Zolzaya, who participates in raids against the

freight trains Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons ( International Union of Railways) haule ...

which transport coal away from the facility. As Bagi fights to overcome his

, together with Zolzaya he leads a group of young people who try to disrupt the mining operations and enliven the despondent populace to return to their nomadic lifestyle.

Cast

* Batzul Khayankhyarvaa as Bagi * Tsetsgee Byambaa as Zolzaya * Banzar Damchaa as Grandfather * Tserendarizav Dashnyam as Shamaness * Dugarsuren Dagvadorj as Mother * Uuriintuya Enkhtaivan as Naraa

Music

Some of the music in this film is composed and performed by the Mongolian band

Altan Urag Altan Urag (; mn, Алтан Ураг, ; " Golden Lineage") is a Mongolian folk rock band. Formed in 2002, the band's musical style combines traditional Mongolian and contemporary influences. They're considered to be the pioneers of mongolian f ...

Release and awards

''Khadak'' was screened numerous film festivals around the world, including

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and Sundance. It won 20 prizes and notably — the Lion of The Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film at the

63rd Venice International Film Festival The 63rd annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 30 August 2006 with Brian De Palma's ''The Black Dahlia'' and was closed on 9 September 2006. Host of the event was Italian actress Isabella Ferrari. During ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website

Khadak
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

2006 films Mongolian-language films 2000s Belgian films