''Genghis Blues'' is a 1999 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative Republic in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Federal subjects of Russia, federal sub ...

to pursue his interest in Tuvan throat singing.

Accolades

It won the 1999

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

Audience Award for a Documentary. It was also nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

in 2000 in the Best Documentary Feature category.2000, Oscars.org
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Synopsis

The documentary captures the story of blind blues musician Paul Pena. After a brush with fame and success in the 1970s, Pena's fortunes faded as he dealt with career and health problems. While listening to

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30& ...

, Pena heard a broadcast of Tuvan throat singing, the art of manipulating overtones while singing to make higher frequencies more distinguishable, essentially making it possible to sing two notes at once. Pena, over the course of several years, taught himself to throat sing to a very impressive degree. He eventually attended a concert of throat singing and, after the concert, impressed one of the throat singers, Kongar-ol Ondar, who invited him to visit

, a republic of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and a formerly independent country from 1921 to 1944, under the name of the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva, and the home of throat singing, to sing in the triennial throat singing festival held there. The entire journey, as well as the extraordinary mix of cultures and music, is captured in the documentary.

Production

The Belic brothers shot the film with two Hi8 camcorders and edited it themselves. They were allowed to edit the film during nighttime at a professional editing facility. It took them three and a half years to finish the film after they shot it. All this time they lived on $500 a month in an apartment above an auto repair shop.

Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...

, a longtime friend of the brothers, is credited for his "editorial assistance."

References

External links

''Genghis Blues'' official movie site
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{{Sundance Audience Award Documentary 1999 films American documentary films Throat singing Documentary films about blind people Films directed by Roko Belic American independent films Documentary films about singers Tuva 1999 directorial debut films Camcorder films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Sundance Film Festival award–winning films English-language documentary films