Yuguo and His Mother – Gu Tao

Description

Synopsis of Yuguo and His Mother

Yuguo, from Mongolia, lost his father when he was very young. His mother Liuxia was not able to raise him as a heavy drinker. With social support, she sent Yuguo to Wuxi for free education. Liuxia is depressed all day long, and she finds sustenance of missing Yuguo in reindeer and wine.

One winter holiday after many years, Yuguo returns to his hometown, the Evenki settlement deep in the Greater Khingan mountains. At that time, he is no longer the boy who just left home, but a thirteen-year-old teenager. Facing alcoholic mother, poetic uncle, pure people from the tribe, familiar yet strange forest, Yuguo, who grew up in the city, doesn’t know what to do.

In the snow-laden mountains of Aoluguya, northeast of Inner Mongolia, the film chronicles their brief time together.

Yuguo and His Mother is the second documentary of Gu Tao’s Evenki trilogy. The other two are Aoluguya, Aoluguya and The Last Moose of Aoluguya.

Read our blog post to see endorsement and reviews about issues reflected by this film from local audience.

Information

54 minutes | English & Simplified Chinese subtitles | SD (720×576)
China | 2011
Director: Gu Tao

Awards & Film Festivals

1. Winner of Ogawa Shinsuke Prize, 2011 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
2. Winner of Best Documentary Programme, 2011 Asian Television Award
3. Winner of First Prize, 2011 China Documentary Society Top 10
4. Nomination, 2012 Taiwan International Documentary Festival

Highlight Endorsement

“It expresses the love between mother and son as well as the decline and inheritance of ethnic culture. A thought-provoking and very good documentary!”
Qiao Jia Qi, Douban reviewer

“It is a documentary full of vitality. Yuguo’s relationship with his mother is so touching.”
Super Pig, Douban reviewer

Reasons for Recommendation

1. Yuguo and His Mother has the rating of 8.0 on Douban.
2. The film not only records the living conditions of ethnic minorities, but also reflects on the evolution of their lifestyle and culture.
3. It does not show the Evenki people’s life from hunting for novelty, but via Yuguo as a starting point to highlight the fate of the tribe by the individual.

More Info

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