To Kill A Mongolian Horse 一匹白马的热梦
2024 | 97 mins | English subs

Producer: Zhulin Mo, Tan Chui Mui
Director: Xiaoxuan Jiang
Screenwriter: Xiaoxuan Jiang
Director of Photography: Tao Kio Qiu
Editor: Zhong Zheng
Production Design: Zongjian Hou
Sound Design: Bobo Lau
Sound Mixing: Junyi He
Music: Unur
Cast: Saina, Undus, Qilemuge, Tonggalag, Qinartu

Logline
On the wintry steppes, a Mongolian horseback performer's dual life unfolds as he grapples with the disintegration of the traditional way of life.

Synopsis
Saina tries to make ends meet as a herdsman in the wintery steppes of Inner Mongolia. While performing at night in breathtaking horseback shows, he by day takes care of his family’s horses, while juggling a grumpy father and his dysfunctional relationship with his ex-wife and kid. Unlike the majestic cavalryman he portrays in the show, Saina must discover how the world he grew up in has dramatically changed. An intimate portrait about masculinity in crisis from a female perspective.

Director’s Statement
The film is inspired by true events that occurred to my friend Saina, a Mongolian herder living in Inner Mongolia, a region in Northern China. Last year, I witnessed how the collective effect of a drought year and global warming aggravated the lives of many herders in the region. In order to find something more stable than herding, earlier that year, he found a job working at a local horse show doing horseback tricks.

During my visits to the horse show, I was struck by its hyper-masculine atmosphere, where traditional Mongolian masculinity was prominently featured in the performances. These male performers became the subjects of a fetishized gaze, celebrating not just their masculinity but also their ethnic identity. In the film, I cast Saina to play himself, portraying a character navigating between the horse show's world and his real-life struggles. As a series of events unfolds, Saina starts to find the stark contrast between his performed roles and his actual circumstances unbearably irreconcilable...

This film offers a voice from modern Inner Mongolia, capturing the unique experience of ethnic Mongolian herders living on the Northern edge of China — with their Chinese and Mongolian identities, caught in the gradual shift from nomadic traditions to industrial realities.

Festival
2024 Giornate degli Autori / Venice Days, Italy (World Premiere)

Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NyTla0G2ms

World Sales
Pluto Film Distribution Network GmbH
Schliemannstr. 5, 10437 Berlin, Germany
+49 (0) 30 21 91 82 20, info@plutofilm.de, www.plutofilm.de