Two teenage friends take responsibility for protecting a winter horse herd in Mongolia’s remote Tsakhir Valley in Iron Winter, a documentary by filmmaker Kasimir Burgess featured by Al Jazeera’s Witness.

According to Al Jazeera’s description of the film, generations of herders gathered their horses into a vast herd and chose young men to safeguard the animals against winter storms. Mounting environmental pressures forced the centuries-old practice to stop in 2019, raising fears the tradition would disappear.

The documentary follows village elders’ effort to revive the winter herd, entrusting its protection to the two friends. Over several months, the teenagers confront blizzards, exhaustion and doubt during what Al Jazeera describes as Mongolia’s deadliest winter on record.

Their task links the survival of the horses with the community’s effort to preserve a way of life. The source does not specify when the documentary’s winter events took place.

Sources