Sarah Konoski

ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more.

Hi, Sarah.

Yeah, look, it's a rather convoluted story, but I sold the camera to a young Adelaide producer and we got chatting and became kind of mates and I said, oh, give me a buzz if you ever want to talk film and have a project you want to jam on.

And two years later he called me and he said, my camera's been stolen or your camera's been stolen, the one you sold me, and I've got a project going.

A couple of thousand horses, he said, every year since time immemorial are taken by several young boys and they take them on a vast journey in search of pasture.

And there's a community in Mongolia who are considering doing this again.

It's been off for six years, but one family wants to bring it back.

And I was immediately interested.

And after looking at some of his incredible visuals that he'd taken on a trip there with journalist Edward Kavanaugh, who wrote an article on the story, I was kind of hooked.

And I asked if I could direct the film.

Look, I think there was something mythic about this journey.

There was something like a fable, but there was also some tension, some beautiful but difficult tension in these young boys who were deciding between the modern world and an ancient world.

Something that it seemed was kind of tearing them apart because this tradition is under threat.

Most young people are moving for the city.

They see that as an easier life.

But there was a couple of boys who wanted to keep the tradition alive, who wanted to do something that their forefathers had done for hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Yeah, Buttvolt was quiet and soulful and very watchful, a bit younger than Sagana.

So he was 19, Sagana was 21.

Sagana was very expressive and had a bravado, you know, a big baseball hat and a swagger.

So Buttvolt was kind of in his shadow a little bit, but I could feel that his waters ran deep, if you will.