IRON WINTER

In Mongolia’s coldest valley, horses mean life. But in the Iron Winter, nothing can survive alone. For countless generations, the herders of the Tsakhir Valley have protected their horses from ferocious arctic storms by amassing a giant winter herd, nominating their bravest young men to protect it. The daring tradition served as a brutal coming of age ritual, until five years ago, when under increasing environmental pressure, it abruptly ended. Fearful about the loss of culture, elders soon vowed to revive it. And two young friends were handed the daunting responsibility to not only protect the valley’s herd — but to save its most sacred practice. For four months, the boys battle Mongolia’s deadliest winter on record, testing friendship and faith in a fight to keep 2000 horses alive, and preserve an ancient way of life.

“It’d be great if an audience felt transported to this incredibly brutal and beautiful sublime environment. I want them to feel connected and moved by Batbold and Tsagaanaa’s friendship and their plight—the plight of humanity more broadly. It’s to do with climate change and globalization and these herders are at the pointy end of that spear. It’d be nice to have a sense of a shared future, protecting our nature, traditions, and cultures, wherever they might be, rather than just ethnographic othering of people. These boys are just like you and me, they could be anywhere, but they happen to be here in the harshest environment in the world, taking the brunt of the force.“

DIRECTOR: Kasimir Burgess. SCREENPLAY: Ed Cavanough. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Benjamin Bryan. MUSIC: Luke Altmann. PRODUCTION: Ben Golotta, Chris Kamen, Morgan Wright per Repeater Productions.

CONTACT: Repeater Productions (Ben Golotta) ben@repeaterproductions.com