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The language of visuals


„They take the gold and throw away the chest. That chest is our country.“ Mongolia is considered to be one of the ten most resource-rich countries in the world. Foreign investors have transformed one fifth of Mongolia to mining areas. Nature is being destroyed, the daily life of local people is affected. Byambasuren Davaa, known for „The story of a weeping camel“, takes her new feature film „Veins of the World“ to this year's Berlinale Generation, in which she portraits a nomad family, living in a region that is about to become mining area. In strong cinematographic pictures, the film tells a story about a young boy and his big dream, about the loss of a father, about love to nature and the soul of Mongolian mountains.

THE NATURE
“Veins of the world” transports a feeling for Mongolian nature through its powerful visuals. Panoramas of Mongolian nature and mining areas alternate with close-ups of the nomads and their changing life. The man behind those strong cinematic pictures is the Lebanese cinematographer Talal Khoury. He was connected with the project through the German production company, which he also worked with during the production of the documentary „Taste of cement“. Filming in nature has been a challenge for him, he explains during the interview. “Not only have I never been to Mongolia before, but filming landscapes and nature is not my thing. I come from Beirut, which is very much a city. This is why I find myself in cities, I cannot function in nature.” Still, Khoury manages to capture the beauty of the Mongolian nature in a very unique way. “Veins of the world” was also the first children's film Khoury worked on, and he is very happy to finally be able to show one of his works to his son.



THE WORK ON SET
Working on “Veins of the world has been a special experience for Talal Khoury. He describes the atmosphere on set as very warm and open-hearted. Byambasuren Davaa and her two friends have been working on several productions together and found a sensitive way in communication. „Those three women together. There is something very true about this that goes beyond cinema, it goes into telling a true story, a true feeling.“ Together with the three Khoury found a way to express emotions trough visuals. They all had an impact on the creation of the pictures. Still Khoury had quite some freedom in his camera work.
The way of communicating on set was very special, because there were seven different languages on set, Khoury explains proudly. “The Art director, for example, only spoke Mongolian and Russian. I speak Arabic, French and English, so there was no way of communicating through words. But it didn't matter. We understood each other.”





THE ROOTS OF CINEMA
“Veins of the world” is a film that works with the power of visuals throughout many parts of the film. After the death of the father we see scenes of mother and children in their tent. Sequences with fixed camera, no dialogue. The chimney inside of the tent works as a visuals line that separates the little boy Amra from his mother and sister. Trough pictures like this the film is able to tell about the metal separation of the boy, without using any words. Talal Khoury explained that there were several scenes where the team decided to work without dialogue. When the protagonists look at each other and there are chances in light, this expresses the feelings in a natural way and there is no need of dialogue. „ And this brings us back to the idea of cinema. In the beginning cinema was silent and the language was the image. Lets always remember that visuals also are language. When expressing feelings just through image and sound, there is no need for translation.”

THE SOUL OF MONGOLIA
The calm and almost meditative atmosphere of the film is not only created though the pictures but through a general slowness. The great strength of “Veins of the world” is that while expressing this slowness there is no point where its being to slow. „I think it goes with the flow of the country. This is how people live. It's this kind of slowness you feel in the film.”, says Talal Khoury. Visuals, sound and speed transports a feeling to the viewer that gives an understanding for the family portrayed and the soul of Mongolia. Thinking about that one could say that “Veins of the world” is a unique homage to the beauty of Mongolian nature.


Picture Copyright © Talal Khoury
27.02.2020, Liv Thastum

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