OUT OF PARADISE

Dorj and his heavily pregnant wife Suren live a nomadic life on the Mongolian steppe. When the local doctor advises Suren to have a caesarean section, the couple embarks on a gruel-ling journey to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. When they reach the hospital, however, they are told that Suren cannot receive any medical assistance unless they have the correct papers from their home town. And the treatment Suren needs must be paid for in advance. Feeling desperate and lost in the sprawling city, Dorj meets the prostitute Saraa, who helps him to enter a karaoke contest with generous prize money up for grabs. The film was presented at the Solothurn Film Festival 2018, the Fribourg International Film Festival 2018 and the Prague International Film Festival 2019, and it won the award to the Best Feature Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival 2018.

Batbayar Chogsom (1974, Mongolia) grew up in Ulaanbaatar and came to Switzerland in 2000. After completing a basic programme in journalism, in 2012 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from the University of Zurich. After graduation, he worked as an archivist in the graphic collection and the collection of historical photographs of the National Museum. “Out of Paradise” is his first feature film.