Skip to main content
Harvest Moon film image, director Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam

Harvest Moon

Эргэж ирэхгүй намар

This event has passed

World Premiere

Tulgaa returns to his native village to care for his dying stepfather, honouring his remaining commitments by offering to lend a hand with the summer harvest. But upon witnessing Tulgaa’s clumsy first attempts, Tuntuulei, a sassy 10-year-old boy, takes it upon himself to school the city slicker on the grassland ways. Despite getting off on the wrong foot, the two soon find common ground and form a delicate bond that will transform their lives.
At once dense and light on its feet, this understated drama wields a notable humorous touch, rooted largely in the warm cultural temperament and hearty performances by the two leads, whose effortless chemistry is both spunky and disarmingly raw. Actor-director Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam makes a seamless transition behind the camera, expertly tapping into mainstream conventions while never losing sight of the intimately familiar cultural lens. Baljinnyam intuitively harnesses the power of the Mongolian landscapes to amplify the emotional footprint and underscore the looming realities of a nomadic culture on the brink of change.

 

Presented by

Director
Cast

Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam, Tenuun-Erdene Garamkhand

Credits
Country of Origin

Mongolia

Year

2022

Language

In Mongolian with English subtitles

Film Contact
Content Warning

Coarse language; violence

PG

Open to youth!

90 min
Comedy Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Love

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
119 min

This warm, thoughtful piece offers shrewd comic observations on modern dating as it trains a quizzical eye on the trysts of a female doctor, Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), and her colleague, a gay male nurse, Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen).

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

No Bears

Dir. Jafar Panahi
106 min

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays himself in this ingenious meta-fiction about the making of a film, and the unmaking of love story.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sex

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
125 min

Two chimney sweeps living in heterosexual marriages find their views on sexuality and gender challenged by a series of unexpected events. In a set of sharply scripted conversations, both men confront heretofore unexplored aspects of their identity.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

3 Faces

Dir. Jafar Panahi
100 min

Iranian filmmaker Panahi and actress Behnaz Jafari, both playing themselves, receive a video in which a distraught teenaged girl, whose acting dreams have been quashed appears to kill herself. Panahi and Jafari decide to investigate...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Dreams

Dir. Dag Johan Haugerud
110 min

The third installment in the Sex/Dreams/Love trilogy is another rich, absorbing tale. 17-year-old Johanne writes a confessional about her flirtation with a (female) teacher. But the writing is too good to stay private...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Transit
Transit film image; woman leaning her head against a man's back

Transit

Dir. Christian Petzold
101 min

Trust the director of Phoenix and Barbara to re-imagine a WWII romantic intrigue into something unsettlingly contemporary. With occupying forces closing in, a German refugee (Franz Rogowski) assumes a dead writer's identity and flees to Marseille.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Zavier Dumans

Producer

Uran Sainbileg

Screenwriter

Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam

Cinematography

Josua Fischer

Editor

Bayarsaikhan Batsukh

Production Design

Bolor-Erdene Naidannyam

Original Music

Odbayar Battogtokh

Director

Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam headshot, Harvest Moon director

Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam

Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam worked previously as an actor and producer on Thief of the Mind (2011) and Trapped Abroad (2014), both directed by Janchivdorj Sengedorjs. He appeared in the Netflix original series Marco Polo as Ariq Böke (Khubilai Khan’s brother). More recently, he worked as a screenwriter and actor on Under the Turquoise Sky (2021), about a Japanese man who goes on a journey of self-discovery in Mongolia.