ZWEI SONNEN - EIN KÖNIG

Two suns, one king - Mongolian history or what we believe it to be. Like an itinerant monk, this film takes us on a wandering journey through a foreign land that lies both at the centre and at the very edges of our world. We navigate the twists and turns of its unique merge of religion, politics and spirituality. Zwei Sonnen – ein König is an attempt to seize and explain the history, monarchs and traditions of the country just before they escape us again. Mersch always finds new monuments to explore, emerging from the green steppes or the bleak cities. These heroic statues of long vanished times impose their stories on him and thus become memorials against war and dictatorship, urging for reason and respect, values that are too often put aside. Mersch’s film is an essay with countless insights and points of view, but no weeping camels. We walk towards a mysterious and unknown Mongolia with colourful rituals, whimsical Canadians, sad city life and vast landscapes, at times absurd, at times tragic, always fascinating and far away from romantic clichés.