In The Eagle Huntress, who is Aisholpan's main advocate? Bell characterizes Mongolia as backwards and claims that because the Kazakhs live in such isolation they are ignorant about what women can do. Interviewed in Mongolia's leading newspaper in 2016, however, Aisholpan's mother Alma stated that there are no restrictions on girls deciding to be eagle hunters. THE EAGLE HUNTRESS is executive produced and narrated by STAR WARS's Daisy Ridley. "I was looking around at pop culture at that time and you had Khaleesi, the mother of dragons [from Game of Thrones], you had Katniss Everdeen [from The Hunger Games], you had Rey [from Star Wars: The Force Awakens]. The challenge was always to stay ahead of them. NFS You started to learn what to predict. My cameraman, Simon, is a bit of an inventor as well. Documentary photography and films are expected to be ethnographically sensitive and factual, so it is surprising that the creators of Aisholpan's story for Western audiences fail to acknowledge Makpal's eagle hunting prowess. "This 13-year-old Girl Hunts with Golden Eagles." During the Soviet era, eagle hunting waned but began to reemerge in the late 20th century, with annual eagle contests, like the Sayat festival at Nura, Kazakhstan. Of course, finding a fox took forever. Dec. 2, 2016. He is a two-time champion in the annual Golden Eagle festival; his father was a champion, too. Bell spent $US80,000 "my whole life's savings" and took out a high-interest loan to fund the trip. The Eagle Huntress follows the story of Aisholpan, a 13-year-old Kazakh girl from Mongolia, as she attempts to become the first female eagle hunter to compete in the eagle festival at Ulgii, Mongolia, established in 1999. Aimoldir's father, Mana Dayanbek, believes that Aimoldir is destined to be an eagle huntress because Kazakh nomads . IMAX Is a Force To Be Reckoned With at Box Offices (to No Ones Surprise), The Western Genre in Film and TV (Definition and Examples), Three Brands You Need To Keep On Your Radar To Get Perfect Lighting, podcast with one of the films cinematographers. Especially in the winter. 2016. She belongs to a family of nomads who spend their summers in a ger in the Altai Mountains and their winters in a house in town. 2012. Its a documentarians dream: incredibly charismatic protagonists, majestic landscapes, underlying social issues, and a classic David and Goliath tale. As a child she helped her father with his eagle and at 13 Makpal began training her own eagle Ak Zhelke (White Neck). "Elders and respected hunters blessed me some time ago," said the 25-year-old Makpal, "and I'm still getting their support." Released November 2nd, 2016, 'The Eagle Huntress' stars Daisy Ridley, Nurgaiv Aisholpan, Nurgaiv Rys, Alma Dalaykhan The G movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 27 min, and received a user score of 71 . The Eagle Huntress is on limited release nationally from March 16. That was as close [to staging] as we got.". "better-than-Disney magic" - a spot-on assessment of this breathtaking film. How can I help you? (In Russian, Nov. 28, on Murat Abdrazakov teaching three eagle huntresses in Kazakhstan), http://forbes.kz/life/zavershilsya_chempionat_rk_sredi_berkutchi?platform=hootsuite, "Kazakhs Revive Eagle Hunt Traditions." One of my biggest expensestruly, of my life savingswas excess luggage. We didn't stage anything.". Nirgidma with her eagle. I just had to get there and make sure we captured it.". Aisholpan Nurgaiv's story is both unique and universally relatable: a memoir of survival, empowerment, and the positive impact of one person's triumph. Children commonly help to care for the eagles, go along on hunts, and attend eagle festivals. One reviewer has described it as a "fairytale documentary" - two words that don't usually go together - that feels at times "more like fiction than fact". She's not; as Stanford academic Adrienne Mayor convincingly argues, there have been many female eagle hunters, dating back to ancient times, and a handful of them in the modern era. [7], The Eagle Huntress premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics for the US and Altitude Film Distribution in the UK. It's my first film. After the festival, it was clear that we had to go back for a winter hunt, but everything I had was gone. BBC News video, Dec. 23. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16315799, Tashenov, Chingiz. It is little wonder, perhaps, that Ridley embraced the . Bell's breathtaking documentary "The Eagle Huntress" previewed at Sundance in January 2016 to international acclaim. Train crash an 'unimaginable tragedy' - Greek president, Survivors describe 'nightmarish seconds' as trains crashed, Rescuers search wreckage of deadly Greece train crash. It looks like 30 people shot it, but in reality it was only three of us. 2.11M subscribers Narrated by: Daisy Ridley The Eagle Huntress Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Documentary The Eagle Huntress follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the. They're intense, and they're determined to hunt. From Wonder Woman #295 (1982); art by Joe Staton and Jerry Ordway. 2010. Aisulu's parents approved her wish to be a burkitshi at age 11, noting that her grandfather would be very proud. Set against the breathtaking expanse of the Mongolian steppe, THE EAGLE . Aisholpan wasn't looking for some sort of public validation. NFS: You just had to have some good old-fashioned chutzpah. A soaring documentary of a feminist journey, an Israeli screwball comedy, Black Swan for kids, and a . The film follows the fortunes of a 13-year-old Kazakh girl called Aisholpan, who wants to learn the ancient art of eagle hunting hunting foxes on horseback, with an eagle from her father. Shohan's daughter, Eagle Festival, Ulgii, Mongolia, 2015. 2014. And when he went back to the old men to ask what they thought, they coughed up a laundry list of reasons why she still couldn't be considered a real eagle hunter: "They said, 'her dad's a great coach, the bird is phenomenal, it's because tourists were there and it's nice for them. Thanks for the inspiration. Carrie Fisher, best known as Princess Leia from the Star Wars film saga, died Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack while on a flight from London to Los Angeles the week before. Just make sure you finish it. I had Morgan Spurlock's email from years ago, so I cheekily sent him a link to it. "From the Mediterranean to the Yellow Sea by Motor." The eagles are not bred in captivity, but taken from nests at a young age. Please try again later. He saved me. With her father Nurgaiv's help, she learns how to train golden eagles, and then captures and trains her own eaglet. FIG 2.2. The ancient practice of eagle hunting is carried on today by a few hundred nomadic Kazakhs in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang (northwest China). "Visiting Makpal Abdrazakova," Nov. 26-27. The film features a 13-year-old girl tackling the powerful and violent act of hunting game deep in the mountainous Kazhak wildernessa tradition which has not been taken on by any other female in its 12-generation history. Thus, the men Dennis Keen cites as objecting are only a subset of prominent eagle hunters, and the very men who blessed Makpal's engagement were elders integrally important to the resurrection of the eagle hunting tradition in Kazakhstan during post-Soviet rule. Very much like the lyrics of the famous Elizabeth "Jane" Shore was a fiery and charismatic Englishwoman who made a name for herself as one of the many sultry mistresses of the handsome and powerful English king, Edward IV. The Lido in Hawthorn is hosting a preview on March 13, with an exhibition of photos taken at the Golden Eagle festival by former Big Day Out photographer Sophie Howarth in the foyer. In 2010, falconry historian Dennis Keen photographed Makpal with her eagle. Parents need to know that The Eagle Huntress is a documentary about an extraordinary 13-year-old named Aisholpan Nurgai, who strives to become the first female eagle hunter in 12 generations of her nomadic Mongolian tribe's history. Spurlock set him up with producers, editors, space to work on it. The Eagle Huntress is an amazing documentary. She belongs to a family of nomads who spend their summers in a ger in the Altai Mountains and their winters in a house in town. And I was like, 'Oh, God, we're going to have to come back'. Bell: Its a big score. Archaeologists have been able to take a closer look at one of the United Kingdoms most famous shipwrecks. I didn't go away. I imagine they don't watch a lot of media, so how did you convince them of what you were trying to do? ", Aisholpan's performance at the competition provides the film with a climax of sorts, but to Bell it felt too much like a sports movie. (Photo courtesy of Stefan Cruysberghs) Female eaglets are chosen since they grow to a larger size - a large adult might be as heavy as seven kilos, with a. Read about our approach to external linking. What Does the Ending of 'American Psycho' Mean? Tarim,! [8] Director Otto Bell said of Ridley, "Like so many other theatergoers around the world, I was blown away by Daisy's recent portrayal of an empowered female protagonist [Rey in The Force Awakens]. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, tired platitudes of a second-rate Disney animation, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Ruling party wins Nigeria's presidential election, Daily walk prevents one in 10 early deaths - study, Finland starts construction of Russia border fence, Ancient mummy found in delivery man's bag, Denmark scraps holiday to boost defence budget, Drone crash near Moscow was failed attack - governor, Pictures show devastation after Greece train disaster. Asian Conference on Asian Studies, International Academic Forum. The hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Martina, who shot lots of lovely verite and lived with the family for a few weeks to kind of get a texture of everyday life, shot with a C300. She's a remarkable young woman, aided in her quest by a remarkable feminist father, Rys Nurgaiv, who supports Aisholpan one hundred percent even as he worries about how the male eagle hunters will treat her. "My feeling was just because it's a true story that doesn't mean it can't also be beautiful. Reuters YouTube video, Dec. 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxzClfYV6WY. It is thus mysterious that there are so few references to the planets in ancient literature. The Eagle Huntress follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries. ", But in truth that wasn't the first time Bell had seen her. We were just blazing alongside them. 2015. The other thing that helped us, and I think makes it feel almost like a narrative, is that Aisholpan and Agalai were training a lot. Subtitled. The Eagle Huntress is a documentary that tells the story of Aisholpan, a 13-year old Kazakh girl living in the remote Altai Mountains of Mongolia, who is determined to become an eagle hunter like her father - despite the fact that it's a tradition usually reserved for men. It's true, too, that he felt he had the makings of a cool little fable about female empowerment on his hands if only he could make it. Caters News . The Eagle Huntress is a 2016 internationally co-produced Kazakh-language documentary film directed by Otto Bell and narrated by executive producer Daisy Ridley. He introduced me to Stacey. ", Aisholpan hunting for foxes in the Altai mountains.Credit:Sony Pictures Entertainment. It is up for a Bafta award on Sunday night but missed out on an. "I thought we need to throw the kitchen sink at this thing, to do justice to this big landscape and these remarkable characters," he says. "The first time I saw Aisholpan, having flown across the world to see her, was incredible," Bell has said. Alfred Beagle was the son of Jarvis, the former butler to the Wayne family in Gotham City . Asher Svidensky's photo that inspired 'The Eagle Huntress'Credit: Asher Svidensky NFS: Some documentary filmmakers embed ourselves in a situation, and others go in and out. [14], Some reviewers and researchers felt that the documentary overstated the amount of opposition Aisholpan faced as a female eagle hunter and that the early promotion of the film included an ethnocentric and distortive description of the Kazakh eagle hunting culture as being one of "ingrained misogyny" (IMDb description for initial 7 months from film's premiere). (Photo courtesy of Meghan Fitz-James). We caught up with her to find out what life's like in Mongo. FIG 2.7. Otto Bell's fairytale documentary unfolds amidst . It gave me the inspiration to win," she says. When The Eagle Huntress premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24, one of Hollywood's biggest breakout stars was quietly plotting to use her newfound fame to help make it soar.Star Wars . "There's quite a bit of peacocking involved they grab their furs, they sit in state.". We ate together. "I can't pay you," he warned, "but we're going to go track down this girl, see what the story is.". Central Asian Falconry Project. "Those guys are used to being photographed, let's put it that way," says Bell. Amanbol and Bazarbai, brother and sister eagle hunters, 2014. He told me: 'We need to think about what my father thinks of this.' 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