Notes from Sheepland

The Story of the Weeping Camel

June 2003 •Mongolian

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

The Garden of Stones

April 1976 •Persian

Secrets and mysteries lose power when they are spread too widely. This is what the villagers discover when they invade an old man's vision-inspired shrine to the namelessly holy.

The Seasons

January 1975 •Russian

The last collaboration of Artavazd Peleshian and cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov is a film-essay about Armenia's shepherds, about the contradiction and the harmony between man and nature, scored to Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

School of Hope

December 2020 •Arabic

In the vast expanse of desert East of Atlas Mountains in Morocco, seasonal rain and snow once supported livestock, but now the drought seems to never end. Hardly a blade of grass can be seen, and families travel miles on foot to get water from a muddy hole in the ground. Yet the children willingly ride donkeys and bicycles or walk for miles across rocks to a "school of hope" built of clay. Following both the students and the teachers in the Oulad Boukais Tribe's community school for over three years, SCHOOL OF HOPE shows students Mohamed, Miloud, Fatima, and their classmates, responding with childish glee to the school's altruistic young teacher, Mohamed. Each child faces individual obstacles - supporting their aging parents; avoiding restrictions from relatives based on traditional gender roles - while their young teacher makes do in a house with no electricity or water.

Wolves Return

November 2019 •German

Wolves divide and fascinate us. 150 years after they were driven to extinction in Central Europe, they are returning slowly but inexorably. Are they dangerous to humans? Is it possible to coexist? Using Switzerland as a point of departure, where wolves have returned in the very recent past, this documentary sheds light on the wolf situation in Austria, eastern Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and even Minnesota, where freely roaming packs of wolves are more common sight.

Brotherhood

April 2022 •Czech

Jabir, Usama and Uzeir are three young brothers in a Sunni family of shepherds. Since childhood, their father Ibrahim has rigidly trained them in the principles of the Quran and has filled their minds with stories of the Bosnian War.

Schafzucht im schottischen Hochland - Schur und Auktion

January 1980 •German

Before shearing, done with electric devices and hand shears, lambs are separated from the flock. The lambs are not yet shorn but dipped in a disinfectant, parasiticidal liquid prescribed by law. For the auction, held in autumn, the sheep for sale are loaded on special trucks and transported from the pasture to the public sale.

Arkadia

Invalid date •English

In a world where farming is mechanized and farm animals are fed with products coming from across the globe, a young shepherd is trying to keep his practice sustainable by using ancestral ways to raise his flock.

The Shepherdess of the Glaciers

August 2016 •English

She is one of the last shepherdesses who still lives with her flock in the heights of the Gya-Miru valley in Ladakh. At the age of 50, Tsering is the youngest in her village to drive her 350 goats and sheep at the expense of transhumance in this region of the Himalayas, located between 4000 and 6000 meters above sea level. A harsh and precarious life, often solitary, mishandled by difficult climatic conditions and a sometimes hostile nature, which does not prevent this tiny bit of woman to sing, laugh and ... philosophize.

Hirten und Herden in der Pußta

January 1943 •German

Short film about shepherds in the Puszta

Desert Killer

June 1953 •English

Desert Killer is a 1952 short film directed by Larry Lansburgh about a hunter tracking a sheep-killing mountain lion. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.

Man's First Friend

January 2018 •English

He has shared our lives for 20,000 years. Along the way, he has helped us find food, kept our livestock, protected us from our enemies, guided us in extreme conditions, and saved us from peril. Now, he comforts us, relieving loneliness and helping us cope with old age. How did dogs come about?

Ovčiarskou cestou

April 2021 •Slovak

A shepherd's affair

January 1997 •Hebrew

Suspense and romance between Jewish and Druze ranchers in the Golan Heights.

Shepherds' Journey Into The Third Millenium

October 2002 •German

Director Erich Langjahr follows several of the last remaining shepherds in Switzerland, on the cusp of the third millennium. How does one of the oldest human means of subsistence survive into the modern age? At an unhurried pace, he captures the shepherd, his sheep, his dogs and his mules as they trudge across snow-covered fields, climb mountain passes and cross highways. The sheep have to be cared for all year round and the life of a shepherd is physically demanding. Shepherds stay outdoors, or in small huts and caravans – often in places inaccessible by car. During their long periods away from home, their families expand and their children grow up. But they wouldn’t have it any other way; being a shepherd is a very conscious life choice. One of them puts it like this: “I just can’t sit still. As long as my health allows me I’ll always be on the go. No matter where in the world, I’d like to be on the go forever.”

The Cave of the Yellow Dog

July 2005 •Mongolian

The little nomad girl, Nansal, finds a baby dog in the Mongolian veld, who becomes her best friend - against all rejections of her parents. A story about a Mongolian family of nomads - their traditional way of life and the rising call of the City.

Mongolian Ping Pong

June 2005 •Chinese

Bilike has never seen a ping-pong ball before. He and his family live without electricity and running water in a solitary tent home among the vast steppe grasslands. The magnificent landscape here has changed little since the days of Genghis Kahn. But life in the middle of nowhere can be exciting for a young boy. The smallest of details become big events for curious Bilike and his best friends Erguotou and Dawa. The mystery of the small white ball floating in the creek leads to questions about the world around them, as well as innocent mischief.

Tuya's Marriage

September 2006 •Chinese

Set in Inner Mongolia, a physical setback causes a young woman to choose a suitor who can take care of her, as well as her disabled husband.

Times and Winds

September 2006 •Turkish

In a small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, the villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living off the earth and a few animals they feed. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. Yakup is in love with his teacher, and one day after seeing his father spying on the teacher he dreams too, like Ömer, of killing his father. Yıldız studies and tries to manage the household chores imposed by her mother. She learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.

The Dark

September 2005 •English

In an attempt to pull her family together, Adèlle travels with her young daughter Sarah to Wales to visit her father. The morning after they arrive, Sarah mysteriously vanishes in the ocean. Not long after, a little girl bearing a striking resemblance to their missing daughter reveals that she has retuned from the dead — and that Sarah has been taken to the Welsh underworld.