Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired the international rights of Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s debut feature “City of Wind.” The film is in post-production and will be ready for a world premiere in fall 2023.
Purev-Ochir is known for several high-profile short films, including “Mountain Cat,” which was in Cannes Competition in 2020, and won best short in Busan in 2020, and “Snow in September,” which was awarded the Golden Lion for best short in Venice, and best short in Toronto last year.
Ze is a timid 17-year-old shaman. He studies hard at school to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia, while communing with his ancestral spirit to help those in his community. But when Ze encounters Maralaa, his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
The film stars young Mongolian actors such as Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba together with veterans Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren. The crew includes top-notch technicians such as DOP Vasco Carvalho Viana (“The Nothing Factory”) and editor Matthieu Taponier (“Son of Saul,” “Beginning”).
Martin Gondre and Charles Bin, Best Friend Forever’s co-founders, said: “ ‘City of Wind’ tells a timeless story in an urban landscape never seen on screen before. In a modern and organic way, she captures what it is to become a shaman. It is a delicate and poetic journey, that is eye-opening on what it means to choose spirituality in 2023.”
Produced by Katia Khazak and Charlotte Vincent at Aurora Films (“Return to Seoul,” “Angry Annie”) and co-produced by Ariunaa Tserenpil and her company Guru Media in Mongolia, “City of Wind” is also coproduced by Uma Pedro No Sapato in Portugal, Volya Films in Netherlands, 27 Films Production in Germany and the Mongolian platform VOO by Mobinet. Arizona Distribution will release the film in France.
