Daughter of Genghis
Kristoffer Juel Poulsen, Christian Als & Knud Brix / Denmark, Sweden & France / 2024 / World Premiere / 86 min
A seven-year odyssey through Mongolia's underworld with nationalist gang leader, hardcore feminist and single mum Gerel, who wears a black balaclava and fights for a racially pure Mongolia and to look after her son Temuulen.
33-year-old Gerel Byamba is a complex woman. A fiery nationalist, shaman, violent gang leader and indignant, hooded avenger. As the leader of the all-female, ultra-nationalist organisation Gerel Khas, she fights to protect Mongolia from sex work and Chinese miscegenation. She fights for women’s equality, but abandons her son on the altar of the nationalist cause. ‘Daughter of Genghis’ is a seven-year-long tale from the Mongolian underworld, about a nomadic people struggling to protect their identity and freedom in a rapidly changing country. We experience Gerel Byamba’s conflicted, violent life during a time when cracks of doubt appear in her otherwise solid armour. Is violence the right path for Mongolia and herself? How can she protect the future of her people? Your ideological map of the world is thoroughly challenged along the way.