Documentary following a 13-year-old girl as she follows in her father's footsteps to become an eagle hunter. Challenging the traditions of her Kazakh tribe, she determines to become the first female to compete in the annual eagle festival in Mongolia.
This feature documentary ventures into the inhospitable Altai Mountains of central Asia, where nomadic peoples have for centuries trained eagles to hunt for food and fur in the winter. It’s a tradition long unchanged, until now when a respected Kazakh eagle hunter, having no male heir, decides to pass his skills on to his 13-year-old daughter.
Cheerful schoolgirl Aisholpan is made of pretty stern stuff however, as father and daughter head off to the Mongolian peaks to capture an eaglet suitable for training. This is just one of many startling sequences in what becomes a gripping sporting underdog story, when she becomes the first female ever to compete in the region’s famed annual eagle hunting festival. The sight of plucky Aisholpan in full control of a bird of prey whose wingspan far exceeds her own height proves a key image in this brilliantly shot, utterly captivating tale of girl power and cultural change. It proves once again that real-life can indeed be more extraordinary than fiction.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Daisy Ridley |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Otto Bell |
