From communism to the post-Soviet era, a little known cinema
The first cinema screenings in the country took place between 1903 and 1913, when private screenings were organized at the court of Prince Namnansüren, in the town of Urga - formerly known as Ulaanbaatar. After the Russian Revolution, the People's Revolutionary Party became the national governing body for cinema, transforming the seventh art into a tool for mass education. A network of permanent cinemas, coupled with itinerant screenings, was set up to criss-cross the country. Mongolia's first cinema opened in Ulan Bator in 1934, and Mongol Kino Studios was founded on October 11, 1935. During the first half of the twentieth century, all national productions came from this institution. These works were used to spread Soviet propaganda through heroic tales and folk tales. The first Mongolian film - a short entitled The Way of Norjmaa - was released in 1938, contrasting the traditional religious values of Mongolian society with modernity and socialist progress. During the Second World War, Mongolia became a rallying point for Soviet filmmakers who had had to flee the Nazi invasion, and numerous productions saw the light of day, including Son nom était Sükhe Bätor (1942), a work in praise of this hero of the revolution, and Prince Tsogt (1945). This successful work, filmed by the Mongolian Dejidiin Jigjid, is reminiscent of Eisenstein'sAlexander Nevsky, released seven years earlier in Russia.
After the war, Mongolian cinema continued to rally crowds around working-class heroes and nationalist historical dramas. A few titles stand out: Le Réveil (1957), a musical again inspired by the Norjmaa theme; Bayandelger Jamsran's Elbeg Deel (1960), a rural romance set against a sixties backdrop; Altan Örgöö or The Golden Palace (1961), the first color film in Mongolian cinema, a fantasy fable co-produced with East Germany.
In the 1970s and 1980s, as Soviet power waned, the cinema was liberated. Nagnaidorj Badamsuren's Five Colors of the Rainbow (1978) and Jamyangiin Buntar's Garid Magnai (1983) marked a new youthfulness in Mongolian cinema. This momentum was shattered by the fall of the USSR, when many cinemas closed. Nevertheless, cinema remains a popular art form, and a handful of filmmakers manage to draw crowds with local successes. Recently, documentary filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa(L'histoire du chameau qui pleure, 2003; Les Deux Chevaux de Genghis Khan, 2009) and filmmakers such as Uranchimeg Nansal(Golden Treasure, 2016) and Byamba Sakhya(Bedridden, 2020) have given new impetus to Mongolian cinema, even if the network of cinemas has failed to rebuild itself. Ulaanbaatar has just one cinema, the Urgoo, dating from 1989. But don't let that stop you from pushing open the doors and discovering its impressive facade.
