Herdsmen

This is a documentary which tracks a Kazak family in Xinjiang, China's most western province, with two cameras over the course of a year from spring to winter. The 90-minute film was cut from 2500 minute of raw footage, a four-year effort. The Kazaks are ethnically related to the people of Kazakhstan. They speak the same language. But where Kazakhstan was moulded by the Soviets into a nation of farmers and workers, the Kazaks of Xinjiang have retained their nomadic life, their bond with nature and their love for animals and horses. The Kazaks - gentle by nature - are a small minority among many more tenacious people of Xinjiang. And their lives took them to the mountains and plateaus of the most remote area of the most desolate region of China.