US director films return of falconry in Mongolia

Dubai: The wild and windswept plains of Central Asia might seem to have little in common with the Gulf states, but the two regions in fact have a major interest in common falconry.

However, falconry in Central Asia is not about using modestly-sized birds of prey to catch pigeons and other small animals, as it can be in the UAE. Instead, it involves employing huge eagles, capable of snapping a man's arm with their talons, to kill wolves, lynx and owls.

In the documentary Kiran Over Mongolia, being screened three times during the Dubai International Film Festival, a young man learns the techniques and traditions of the eagle master from an old hand.

Californian director Joseph Spaid told a press conference he was on an around-the-world trip when he decided to make the film.

"I didn't know eagle hunters existed. We were coming over a hill and we saw these guys on horseback. It could have been 1,000 years earlier and it would have looked exactly the same," he said.

Spaid befriended Kuma Uliksat, a young Kazakh man, who agreed to go to remote and mountainous western Mongolia and, under the tutelage of veteran bird handler Khairatkhan Sernedan, learned how to become an eagle master.

"I still cannot believe that I was in the film," said Uliksat.

The film was shot over three cold months in late 2001 and came on the back of a resurgence in falconry in the area.

Spaid said: "Falconry was discouraged under Communism but since 1991 it's become a lot more popular there."