The Tsaatan nomads live on the remote Mongolia plains, covered with snow. The young Quizilol and the beautiful Solongo live with their respective families and about 800 reindeers. They are in love and want to get married, but the girl’s family thinks they are too young. To show Solongo’s father he is a man mature enough to marry his daughter, Quizilol will have to demonstrate that he is capable of raising a herd of reindeer by himself. His family entrusts him with a fine young reindeer that is going to become a beautiful adult white reindeer. During a storm the reindeer runs away and looks for shelter in the mountains. If he crosses the nearby borders with Russia, he will get lost forever. The young man has to rely only on himself to get the animal back in order to demonstrate he is mature enough to eventually marry his beloved Solongo.
Director
Hamid Sardar
Hamid Sardar, regista etnografico e studioso di cultura tibetana, vive attualmente in Mongolia. Laureato all'università di Harvard, dipartimento di Studi Indiani e Sanscrito, prende parte alla celebre spedizione della National Geographic alla scoperta delle cascate del Brahmaputra in Tibet, nel 1999. Passa alcuni anni tra il Nepal e la Mongolia, dedicandosi all'insegnamento e agli studi. Dal 2003 si occupa di documentare le tradizioni nomadi mongole, attraverso progetti, articoli e film. I suoi documentari The Reindeer People (2004) e Balapan, Wings of Altai (2006) vincono premi come miglior film etnografico ai festival di Banff e Telluride. Tracking the White Reindeer ha vinto il premio della giuria a Autrans.