Mother Land

In the animation Mother Land, the Yates, a nomadic tribe of Tundra, adhere to the traditional lifestyle despite the conciliatory and coercion of development. A little girl, Krisha; her younger brother, Kolya; and her mother and father live happily in the traditional way. However, one day, while her mother is ill and her father goes to the city to get medicine, Krisha and Kolya head out to ask for help from Red Bear, the sacred spirit and owner of the land. Although the film’s story is told through stop motion animation, the feelings it stirs equal and even extend beyond that of live action. Exotic imagination, narratives of nature and human confrontation, brother and sister′s adventures, excellent descriptions of forests, glaciers, snowfields, caves, and aurora, and accurately conceived and refined shorts all enrich Mother Land. It is such a lyrical and exciting stop-motion animation. (JUNG Hanseok)