Black Milk

After years of living in Germany, Wessi visits her sister Ossi in their common homeland of Mongolia. Ossi’s yurt may be small, but she nonetheless invites all the neighbours to welcome her long-lost sister and eat, drink and celebrate. “Don't pretend you’ve forgotten our rituals”, is how the modern young woman is admonished. But in fact, Wessi remembers them all too well, especially the role that milk plays in the lives of these nomads. Wessi soon starts feeling a unique erotic connection with Terbish, a mysterious older man living a traditional existence on the steppes. But can she even entertain the thought of following her feelings in the old-fashioned world of the steppe? Uisenma Borchu’s second semi-autobiographical film after Schau mich nicht so an features a young woman searching for her roots. In doing so, she discovers an idiosyncratic, radical sensuality that not only transgresses Mongolian conventions, but also those of the supposedly more liberal West. (Berlinale)