Masters of the Land (2021)

The rise of mining, climate change and overgrazing have led to vast desertification in post-communist Mongolia. According to Mongolian shamanistic belief violation of nature by men provokes the anger of the ruling spirits or the 'masters of the land'. Texts by shaman Kyrgys Khurak and Hungarian poet Ferenc Juhasz, who experienced the painful initiation of a shaman in 1957, cut the medium long shots. Interweaving the rich spiritual Mongol tradition with a visual portrait of the country, Masters of the Land submerges the viewer in an intoxicating finale. (Ive Stevenheydens)