Cave of the Yellow Dog

On the stage of the flashy and modern Tengis Movie Theater at the Liberty Square in Ulaanbaatar stands a nomad family. Three children in bright blue dels run around their parents and gaze at the audience in the packed cinema hall. A few minutes later they will see each other in more than life-size on the big white screen. It is the family Batchuluun and they are the stars of the new film of director Byambasuren Davaa: The Cave of the Yellow Dog

Byambasuren's debut, The Story of the Weeping Camel, was a huge worldwide success and even brought her to the Oscar ceremony, although she was still a student of the film school in Germany. In her new film she explores again the relationship between animals and humans in the vast landscape of Mongolia.

Film-Archive Synopsis:

"Nansal (6), the oldest daughter of a Mongolian nomad family finds a small dog one day while out in the fields. When she brings him home, her father is afraid he could bring bad luck and demands that she immediately get rid of him. Despite her father’s orders, she keeps the puppy and tries to hide him from her skeptical father. When the family uproots to move to another camp, the father leaves the puppy behind, tied up to a post. Only when the dog proves himself to the father by protecting the family’s baby boy from a flock of threatening vultures does the father accept him and welcome him into their family.

The Cave of the Yellow Dog tells the story of the age-old bond between man and dog, a bond which experiences a new twist through the eternal cycle of reincarnation in Mongolia."