Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel

The Story of the Weeping Camel

South Mongolia, Gobi Desert, Spring 2002: a family of nomadic shepherds assists the births in their camels′ herd. A white colt is born. Its mother, disturbed by the long and painful delivery, rejects it. The little one fights for milk and love, but its cold-hearted mother seems determined to let it die. The nomads make use of their last resource: only with the help of a musician from a distant village might the little camel be saved ...

In an ancestral ritual, the shepherds sing and play violin for the two camels, until their music soothes the angry mother and she falls into a state of trance. Large tears of regret fall from her eyes, as she finally accepts her little one and suckles it.

"This project gave me the opportunity to reconsider a naive approach to filmmaking. The nomadic family we met was completely devoid of any type of cynicism. It seemed to us, an innocent view would lead to the appropriate form for telling the story of this film. We looked at each shot as a window, therefore keeping it simple and quiet, to maintain a linear, peaceful storyline. This doesn’t imply strict documentary observation, however. Some action important to the structure of the story, which did not occur while the camera was running, was re-shot with the family’s cooperation." Luigi Falorni

Source: German films Service & Marketing GmbH