Mongolian yurt

Lady of the Gobi: trucking coal across the desert to China (25 mins).

Distributed online by The Guardian

On Mongolia’s coal mining highway to the Chinese border, truck driver Maikhuu dreams of a better life and financial security for her three children, but the more she drives her truck up and down this perilous road the more she realises she is working for the very industry that is destroying the livelihoods of many Mongolians.

The highway is riddled with accidents, toxic pollution, poor hygiene and now, amid the COVID crisis, drivers face days of quarantine on the border. Maikhuu is left wondering if the financial gain is worth the cost.

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Q & A with the filmmaker via Zoom:

About the speaker

Khoroldorj Choijoovanchig, aka HOGO is a director, cinematographer and a producer from Mongolia. 

His debut short ‘Dream’ (2010) screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner and competed in the 48 Hour Film Project and ShortShorts Film Festival.He has participated in workshops at the Asian Film Academy, Berlinale Talents, and Talents Tokyo during the Tokyo FILMeX Festival. In 2013, he made his debut feature Yellow Colt, about a young Mongolian boy who returns to live with his nomad family after his adoptive uncle passes away and forms an emotional bond with a horse that he trains for a local racing competition. 

He obtained an MFA in cinematography at the International Film and Television School in Paris (EICAR) and is currently directing his first feature length documentary Colors of White Rock.