The Eagle Huntress

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Otto Bell directs. Simon Niblett behind the camera. Jeff Peters scores. Pierre Takal cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Mongolia. Dialogue in English, Kazakh.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 2Released 10 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Kazakh.
• 4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 5Directed by Otto Bell, shot by Simon Niblett. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Jeff Peters. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Pierre Takal shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Daisy Ridley and Nurgaiv Aisholpan and Nurgaiv Rys carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "Witness one girl's dream take flight".
• 10IMDB entry: tt3882074 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Simon Niblett

Original score

Jeff Peters

Editing

Pierre Takal

Runtime

87 min · 1h 27m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$3,162,153

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

G

IMDB

The Eagle Huntress (2016) ↗

Also by

Otto Bell

• 
  The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima

  2020 · ★ 8.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Eagle Huntress Featurette - Soaring Cinematography (2016) - Documentary

  Featurette
• 

  ▶
  The Eagle Huntress | Official HD Trailer (2016)

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Reno2017-06-05
  ★ 1/10

  The animal slavery. I remember when this film was considered for the Oscars race. But some people were saying everything from the film was staged, instead of reality. I was like, had no idea what to say for such accusation since I haven't seen it yet. That's when I just had watched 'Brothers of the Wind', an Austrian documentary style feature film on the almost similar theme. So I had lots of expectation on this one, but now, after watching, in fact, while watching itself got frustrated by it and also very happy it did not make into the Oscars. I expected a Mongolian tale and yes, it was, but about a Kazakh family. Except the subtitle for the language spoken in the film, there was an English narration that voiced by Daisy Ridley in the background to explain the events properly. Because this is not an interview kind of documentary, but follows a couple of characters to their adventures. Yep, almost entire film did not look like a natural event, but pre-planned. It's a directional debut for the filmmaker. Definitely he has the capacity, but did not pick the right theme. It's about a nomad family living in the nowhere of Mongolian grassland. The film opened with by saying the eagle training art is older than many historic events and its people the region has seen. So this little family has no son since the art is only passed on to them for generations. But the 13-year-old Aisholpan is interested to follow her father's footstep. That's where it all begins when she begins her training, following to have her own bird before competing in the biggest annual event in the nation. I don't know when the last time I rated a film this low, especially for a documentary film, probably this one is the first. I hated everything about the film since I'm a big animal fan. Lots of people who saw it appreciating without the brain. I wonder, would they all appreciated as well the abduction films like 'Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story', 'Abducted: The Carlina White Story' et cetera for not revealing the truth, but the crime committed in it, just like an eaglet was abducted in this. For me it looked like about an animal abuse and animal slavery. Everything they did in the film were for pleasure, for the record, for honour and of course for the film-making. Since humans are civilised and at present in the modern world, we had ended many inhumane practices and this is one of them should be abolished as soon as possible. If a farmer uses a cattle (domestic animal) in his field means he's intended to feed the millions. So do you think snatching an eaglet (wild animal) and training it would do the same or any worth. In fact, it is to kill other animals, like the fox. If an eagle hunts a fox in the natural world, that's very natural, but doing it for human is a big imbalance. DON'T SUPPORT SUCH FILM GUYS. Hats off to the Academy Awards for snubbing it. The competition that showed in the film was good, but I really heart broken when they went on to prove even more than that in the third act. It is not an inspiring film, but disgusting. If people/animal fans go after on a fiction feature film like 'Wiener-Dog' for depicting animal(s) badly, why not this documentary film based on the live- real. Please don't show it to the little kids. This film joins the list of those a very few I hate badly such as 'Man vs. Wild'. I regret watching it, but I would have not known such bad practice is still exists in the 21st century. If you are an animal lover like me, stay away from it. Instead, I highly, strongly recommend a beautiful, inspiring, message film 'Brothers of the Wind'. So totally ignorable film. 01/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• KI

  Kissaki Films

  US

• ST

  Stacey Reiss Productions

  US

• 

  Shine Global

  US

Key crew

• Executive ProducerMorgan Spurlock
• ProducerStacey Reiss
• ProducerOtto Bell
• Executive ProducerDaisy Ridley
• EditorPierre Takal
• Executive ProducerSusan MacLaury
• ThanksLouis Tompkins
• Co-ProducerAsher Svidensky
• Co-Executive ProducerJenny Raskin
• Executive ProducerMarc H. Simon
• Executive ProducerRegina K. Scully
• Executive ProducerDan Cogan
• ThanksOyungerel Tsedevdamba
• ProducerSharon Chang
• ThanksSebastian Solberg
• Executive ProducerJeremy Chilnick
• Executive ProducerBarbara Dobkin

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• sports
• mongolia
• eagle
• based on true story
• sports documentary
• eagle hunting

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2016-01-24· Sundance Film Festival
• Premiere2016-10-02· San Diego Film Festival
• Premiere2016-10-08· Hamptons International Film Festival
• Premiere2016-10-09· Mill Valley Film Festival
• Premiere2016-10-22· Chicago International Film Festival / Middleburg Film Festival
• Premiere2016-11-03· Denver International Film Festival
• Premiere2016-11-12· Hawaii Film Festival
• Premiere2017-01-03· Palm Springs International Film Festival
• Theatrical (limited)2016-11-02G

Also known as

International titles

• Eagle HuntressUS
• La cazadora del águilaES
• La jeune fille et son aigleFR
• La principessa e l'aquilaIT
• Ereliu medziotojaLT
• Polujaca z orlamiPL
• Охотница с орломRU
• Kartal Avcısı KızTR
• イーグルハンター 1000年の歴史を変えた「鷹匠」少女JP
• Das AdlermädchenDE