The world moves fast, and everyone knows it. New technology is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life, no matter where you are in the world. There is a mixture of fear and excitement in the air, as people learn to work, socialize and play in a multitude of new and innovative ways. But do these new ways of living connect us to our neighbors or alienate us from them? When new ways of living become normalized, what happens to old cultural traditions? Director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir explores these questions in her debut feature film ‘City of Wind' to astounding effect: It is a movie that is both profoundly thought-provoking and deeply sentimental.
City of Wind is screening at Cinemasia
The movie delivers its message through a character study of protagonist Ze, a 17 year-old boy living with his family in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city. Ever since he was a kid,...
City of Wind is screening at Cinemasia
The movie delivers its message through a character study of protagonist Ze, a 17 year-old boy living with his family in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city. Ever since he was a kid,...
- 3/7/2024
- by Spencer Nafekh-Blanchette
- AsianMoviePulse
“City of Wind” is the debut feature film by Mongolian director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir. Presented last September at the 80th Venice Film Festival, it won the “Best Actor” award in the Horizons section for the performance of Tergel Bold-Erdene. The film received numerous nominations at major world festivals, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival (Best Foreign Language Film – Fipresci Prize), Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival (International Competition), and Asian Film Awards. At the Pingyao International Film Festival, in addition to being nominated for the Rossellini Award and People's Choice Award categories, it was recognized as the Best Director (Roberto Rossellini Award).
City of Wind is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Without a shadow of a doubt, we are faced with an interesting and promising debut. We find ourselves in the ger district of the icy Ulaanbaatar. A shaman with a deep guttural voice, enveloped in cigarette smoke and hidden behind a traditional mask,...
City of Wind is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Without a shadow of a doubt, we are faced with an interesting and promising debut. We find ourselves in the ger district of the icy Ulaanbaatar. A shaman with a deep guttural voice, enveloped in cigarette smoke and hidden behind a traditional mask,...
- 3/1/2024
- by Siria Falleroni
- AsianMoviePulse
For all its many, many faults, 2023 was a banner year for international films. The awards season buzz for global gems like Justine Triet’s French courtroom thriller Anatomy of a Fall (released by Neon stateside), Jonathan Glazer’s German-language Holocaust drama Zone of Interest (A24), Hayao Miyazaki’s Japanese anime The Boy and the Heron (GKids), and J.A. Bayona’s Spanish-language real-life survival tale Society of the Snow (Netflix) only scratches the surface.
Among the many many other foreign highlights from last year are Mubi’s Fallen Leaves and How to Have Sex — the first a laconic triumph by Finnish film master Aki Kaurismäki, the latter a stunning debut by Brit first-timer Molly Manning Walker — Sony Pictures Classics’ The Teachers’ Lounge, a German school drama from director Ilker Çatak and Iranian drama Shayda from director Noora Niasari; Agnieszka Holland’s harrowing The Green Border, about Poland’s treatment of would-be...
Among the many many other foreign highlights from last year are Mubi’s Fallen Leaves and How to Have Sex — the first a laconic triumph by Finnish film master Aki Kaurismäki, the latter a stunning debut by Brit first-timer Molly Manning Walker — Sony Pictures Classics’ The Teachers’ Lounge, a German school drama from director Ilker Çatak and Iranian drama Shayda from director Noora Niasari; Agnieszka Holland’s harrowing The Green Border, about Poland’s treatment of would-be...
- 1/5/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Don’t have a favorite Mongolian film yet? Worry no more. City of Wind, writer-director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s feature debut, is here to expand your cinematic map and win your heart. Following a premiere in Venice, it screened at the Filmfest Hamburg and proved an absolute charmer. Slight as it may seem in narrative scope, this coming-of-age tale buzzes with tenderness and so much soul it feels positively healing.
We are introduced to the protagonist at a ceremony performed inside a yurt. Accompanied by well-wishers, an old man is kneeling in front of someone covered head to toe in bells, feathers, and a giant headgear, addressed only as “Spirit Grandfather.” From behind the face veil, a raspy and ancient voice answers the old man’s questions and offers solace. When the ritual is over and the traditional garb removed, “Spirit Grandfather” turns out to be 17-year-old Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a...
We are introduced to the protagonist at a ceremony performed inside a yurt. Accompanied by well-wishers, an old man is kneeling in front of someone covered head to toe in bells, feathers, and a giant headgear, addressed only as “Spirit Grandfather.” From behind the face veil, a raspy and ancient voice answers the old man’s questions and offers solace. When the ritual is over and the traditional garb removed, “Spirit Grandfather” turns out to be 17-year-old Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a...
- 10/9/2023
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Oscars: Venice Drama ‘City Of Wind’ From Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir Set As Mongolia’s 2024 Oscar Entry
The indie drama City of Wind, marking the feature directorial debut of Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, has been set as Mongolia’s International Feature Oscar entry for 2024.
The news comes following its recent world premiere in the Orizzonti Competition of the Venice Film Festival, where actor Tergel Bold-Erdene won the Venice Horizons Award for Best Actor.
The film from the creative nicknamed Dulmaa tells the story of Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a 17-year-old serving as the shaman for his village, who at the same time studies hard at school, in order to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia. When Ze encounters Maralaa (Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba), his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
Also starring Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee, and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren, City of Wind is produced by Katia Khazak and Charlotte Vincent. Writer-director Purev-Ochir adapted the film loosely from her debut short Mountain Cat, which premiered in competition at...
The news comes following its recent world premiere in the Orizzonti Competition of the Venice Film Festival, where actor Tergel Bold-Erdene won the Venice Horizons Award for Best Actor.
The film from the creative nicknamed Dulmaa tells the story of Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a 17-year-old serving as the shaman for his village, who at the same time studies hard at school, in order to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia. When Ze encounters Maralaa (Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba), his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
Also starring Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee, and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren, City of Wind is produced by Katia Khazak and Charlotte Vincent. Writer-director Purev-Ochir adapted the film loosely from her debut short Mountain Cat, which premiered in competition at...
- 10/4/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The young people of Mongolia are caught between centuries of tradition and the demands of the modern world in City of Wind, the new film and first full-length feature from award-winning shorts director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (Snow in September, Mountain Cat).
The film, which premiered in Venice and is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows the relationship between Ze, a 17-year-old, gentle Mongolian shaman and Maralaa, a young woman who takes him outside his world into the, for him, alien urban world of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city.
First-timer Tergel Bold-Erdene, who plays Ze, won the best actor honor for the Venice Horizons sidebar for his performance. In an exclusive first trailer of the film (see below), viewers follow Ze as he moves between the ancient spiritual traditions of his homeland and the barrage of the modern world. Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba plays Maralaa. Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Bulgan Chuluunbat co-star.
The film, which premiered in Venice and is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows the relationship between Ze, a 17-year-old, gentle Mongolian shaman and Maralaa, a young woman who takes him outside his world into the, for him, alien urban world of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city.
First-timer Tergel Bold-Erdene, who plays Ze, won the best actor honor for the Venice Horizons sidebar for his performance. In an exclusive first trailer of the film (see below), viewers follow Ze as he moves between the ancient spiritual traditions of his homeland and the barrage of the modern world. Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba plays Maralaa. Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Bulgan Chuluunbat co-star.
- 9/9/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mongolia, in the international cinematic imagination, tends to be largely defined by the rugged lyricism of its rural landscapes, peopled by grizzled nomads and eagle hunters, and of course, celebrated as the birthplace of conquering warlord Genghis Khan. So this quiet, confident debut from Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir comes as a refreshing change of pace, acknowledging the nation’s ancient heritage but only as distant backdrop to Ulaanbaatar’s skyscrapers, shopping malls and pulsing neon nightclubs. In the heart and on the fringes of this modern metropolis, a fragile connection sparks up between two teens — representatives of the youthful country’s expanding Gen Z demographic. Neither as self-consciously poetic nor as vaporous as its title implies, “City of Wind” is a carefully tended flame that spreads a little circle of light and warmth in the world’s coldest capital.
The very first scene lays out its surprising juxtapositions neatly. A shaman, referred to as “Grandfather-Spirit,...
The very first scene lays out its surprising juxtapositions neatly. A shaman, referred to as “Grandfather-Spirit,...
- 9/6/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene) and Maralaa (Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba) in City Of Wind. Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir: 'For me, the film is also an attempt to kind of document this particular time and space that is modern day Mongolia' Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s feature debut City Of Wind has made a strong start to its festival run, screening at Venice and, soon, in Toronto. Set in Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar it is a coming-of-age tale about a young Shaman Ze (newcomer Tergel Bold-Erdene) as he considers his place in the world and navigates the conflicting pressures of being a Shaman and falling in love with fellow teenager Maralaa (Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba). We caught up with the director ahead of the Toronto screenings to chat about expressing Shamanism on film, modern Mongolia and the tip she got from A Separation Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi.
A lot of people, if they like World Cinema, will have come to Mongolia via the countryside,...
A lot of people, if they like World Cinema, will have come to Mongolia via the countryside,...
- 9/6/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
After winning the Orizzonti award for Best Short Film last year (for “Snow in September”), Mongolian director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir returns to Venice with her feature debut: a scintillating, spiritual coming-of-age drama about a teenage shaman trapped between modernity and tradition.
For most of “Sèr sèr salhi” (or “City of Wind”) it’s hard to be certain of how much 17-year-old Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene) believes in his own ancestral rituals; it’s the rare perspective Purev-Ochir intentionally denies her audience. However, in obfuscating this dramatic tenet, she illuminates not only his looming self-doubts and his search for identity, but also, the dynamic complications of his high school life on the precipice of adulthood.
Set in the dead of winter, the movie’s opening scene speaks to a dueling intimacy and unknowability — the confounding sense of self that pervades life at 17 — told here through close-ups that reveal details, but those details themselves only serve to obscure.
For most of “Sèr sèr salhi” (or “City of Wind”) it’s hard to be certain of how much 17-year-old Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene) believes in his own ancestral rituals; it’s the rare perspective Purev-Ochir intentionally denies her audience. However, in obfuscating this dramatic tenet, she illuminates not only his looming self-doubts and his search for identity, but also, the dynamic complications of his high school life on the precipice of adulthood.
Set in the dead of winter, the movie’s opening scene speaks to a dueling intimacy and unknowability — the confounding sense of self that pervades life at 17 — told here through close-ups that reveal details, but those details themselves only serve to obscure.
- 8/31/2023
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Indiewire
Since Mongolia doesn’t often produce genre films, Disorder is a rare treat. Batdelger Byambasuren’s debut certainly comes across as horror in that first minute, seeing as it opens with a young woman trapped inside a burning room, screaming for help. The film then reveals the sequence was a mere nightmare. However, an external shot of the same character’s immediate environment, a foreboding and carceral school, ensures the audience that this is indeed a horror story. Of course Disorder has a tendency to toy with perceptions, even without its characters or viewers realizing that fact.
Schools are often used to illustrate critiques about government and society, especially in horror films from Asia. From Whispering Corridors to Detention, the school is a perfect setting for addressing and digesting bigger political and social concerns. To an unaware observer, Disorder is reproaching the elites who give their children an unfair advantage...
Schools are often used to illustrate critiques about government and society, especially in horror films from Asia. From Whispering Corridors to Detention, the school is a perfect setting for addressing and digesting bigger political and social concerns. To an unaware observer, Disorder is reproaching the elites who give their children an unfair advantage...
- 7/3/2023
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired the international rights of Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s debut feature “City of Wind.” The film is in post-production and will be ready for a world premiere in fall 2023.
Purev-Ochir is known for several high-profile short films, including “Mountain Cat,” which was in Cannes Competition in 2020, and won best short in Busan in 2020, and “Snow in September,” which was awarded the Golden Lion for best short in Venice, and best short in Toronto last year.
Ze is a timid 17-year-old shaman. He studies hard at school to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia, while communing with his ancestral spirit to help those in his community. But when Ze encounters Maralaa, his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
The film stars young Mongolian actors such as Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba together with veterans Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren.
Purev-Ochir is known for several high-profile short films, including “Mountain Cat,” which was in Cannes Competition in 2020, and won best short in Busan in 2020, and “Snow in September,” which was awarded the Golden Lion for best short in Venice, and best short in Toronto last year.
Ze is a timid 17-year-old shaman. He studies hard at school to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia, while communing with his ancestral spirit to help those in his community. But when Ze encounters Maralaa, his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
The film stars young Mongolian actors such as Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba together with veterans Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren.
- 5/21/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Activist Artists Management has signed award-winning Mongolian filmmaker Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir. She’ll be represented at the full-service music and talent management firm by Bernie Cahill and Jon Kanak.
Purev-Ochir has generated buzz around town after winning Best Short Film Prizes from both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in 2022, for her sophomore effort, Snow in September. She’s been celebrated for exploring the contradictions of modern-day Mongolia, having previously seen her debut short, Mountain Cat, win the Sonje Award for Best Asian Short Film at the 25th Busan Film Festival, also screening in the short films competition at Cannes 2020.
Purev-Ochir is currently in post-production on her debut feature, Ze, set in the Yurt districts of her hometown of Ulaanbaatar. The coming-of-age film, starring Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba, examines shamanism and sexual awakening between two teens as they attempt to navigate life’s many issues. The project was presented...
Purev-Ochir has generated buzz around town after winning Best Short Film Prizes from both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in 2022, for her sophomore effort, Snow in September. She’s been celebrated for exploring the contradictions of modern-day Mongolia, having previously seen her debut short, Mountain Cat, win the Sonje Award for Best Asian Short Film at the 25th Busan Film Festival, also screening in the short films competition at Cannes 2020.
Purev-Ochir is currently in post-production on her debut feature, Ze, set in the Yurt districts of her hometown of Ulaanbaatar. The coming-of-age film, starring Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba, examines shamanism and sexual awakening between two teens as they attempt to navigate life’s many issues. The project was presented...
- 1/27/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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