Little Nomads

 

2020 | Minji Ma | documentary | 52'

France - Mongolia - Korea

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Synopsis

Batma is 17 years old and dreams of becoming a doctor. But to achieve that dream, she must leave her family and her nomadic traditions behind for the big city of Ulaanbaatar, an eight-hour drive away. She will discover a new world that is the opposite of everything she has ever known. What does it mean to belong to a nomadic society in the age of globalization?
Over the course of an eight-hour drive, Batma travels through eight centuries from the steppe with its unchanging lifestyles to Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, where technology and social networks are changing habits and mentalities, offering a glimpse of how Western societies are evolving.
This film follows a voyage of initiation across the Mongolian Batma steppe through four years in the life of Batma and her two little sisters that she will leave behind. Their mother, their grandmother, and even their great-grandmother complete the story: Four generations of women who are rarely given a mouthpiece share their thoughts.
 

Original title: Little Nomads

Director: Minji Ma

Writer: Laurence Uebersfeld
Image: Ganbaatar Uuganbayar
Editing: Matthias Weber

Music: Minwhee Lee

Producers: Laurence Uebersfeld, Shinetsetseg Jargalsaikhan, Heejung Oh

 

Co-production: LuFilms (France) - NTV (Mongolia), Seesaw Pictures (Korea)

With the participation of:

CNC, NTV, SWR/ARTE

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Development: Kofic Dev Fund

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International Sales: ZED

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