This breathtaking documentary is an intimate portrait of a group of sheep herders who live a nomadic life on the vast open spaces of the Mongolian steppes. As it follows a single family over the course of one season, Taïga speaks poetically of tradition and of the deep connection to nature that both animates this culture and leaves it perched precariously between the predations of wolves on one hand and modern mining interests on the other. It’s a quiet, profound film that manages to touch on so much more than expected in its brief, hour-long running time. The herders’ beautifully complex relationship with the wolves that stalk their sheep is an elegiac illustration of a life lived in balance with one’s gorgeous and awe-inspiring surroundings.

Photograph Exhibition – Dark Heavens: Hamid Sardar’s Mongolia

A selection of breathtaking images from the Mongolian steppes by Hamid Sardar will be on view in the Jane Peck Gallery throughout the series during regular theater operating hours.