Recently, the documentary film "Давс үүрсэн 40 жил" ("Forty Years We Carried Salt"), created by the news resource ergelt.mn and which published the book "The Last Nomads," was chosen to participate in the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival. This was reported by MiddleAsianNews.
In 2025, the Ulaanbaatar International Film Festival celebrated its 17th anniversary. As part of this event, a gathering titled "Mongolian Film Projects" took place at the European Film Market in Berlin, where the film took first place. This opens up an opportunity for the team to present their project "Давс үүрсэн 40 жил" to an international jury and producers.
The director of the film "Давс үүрсэн 40 жил" is Badralmaa Bat-Erdene, who adapted the material from journalist Chantsaldulam Dorj, published on the ergelt.mn website. This work was selected for the second stage of the International Film Festival in Kharkhorin in June 2025 and also received support from the National Council of Cinema of Mongolia.
The film tells the story of elderly residents of the Gurvantes sum in the Umnugovi province: B. Sukhee, B. Tsogzolmaa, D. Altantuyaa, and Ts. Renchinlkhumbee. These individuals extract salt from the Dund River, benefiting both nature and their communities. B. Tsogzolmaa, Sukhee's older sister, works as a miner in the Dund salt flat, located more than 50 kilometers northeast of Gurvantes.
During the filming in 2023, Sukhee, Altantuyaa, and Renchinlkhumbee were 60 years old, and all of them attended the same middle school class. Renchinlkhumbee is the only man in this group, representing a strong masculine presence.
The film also highlights their hard work in protecting the salt lakes from being flooded by dunes and their desire to preserve their village in the face of 21st-century urbanization. The story of these four individuals reflects the complex social, political, and environmental issues we face in the modern world.
