On The Trail of Genghis Khan

Directed by: Tim Cope/ Richard Dennison  2010 Australia 172 minutes 
Showing: Monday February 13th 2012 - Genghis Khan Night Location: Pacific Cinemateque 

Tickets $18 online / $20 doors   Buy Tickets Here

In June 2004 Tim set off on an epic journey, 10,000km from Mongolia to Hungary by Horse. Six years and 137 hours of film later his experience can now be seen in a documentary series titled 'The Trail of Genghis Khan.


Long synopsis:

The vast steppe of central Asia is a region that has always been on the very fringes of western consciousness. Indefinable, mysterious, a middle earth tucked between the taiga of the north and the world’s greatest mountain chains in the south, it continues to stir imagination. In June 2004, pursuing his passion for adventure Tim Cope will embark on a journey throughout this realm of mountains, steppe, deserts, and nomads. He will travel from Mongolia to Hungary by horse, foot, and camel- a route not successfully completed since Ghengis Khan and his descendants created the largest empire in history more than 700 years ago. A testing journey of 10,000km and 18 months, it will take him into the lives of the nomads still living today, and in the footsteps of those passed into legend. In particular it will follow the Khan Empire that stretched as far west as Hungary. What better way to understand this region than to experience it from the saddle, among the locals, intoxicated by the borderless steppe and taste of fermented mare’s milk?

From nomad heartland of Mongolia to civilized Europe where eight lane highways and cities abound it will be a unique look at the surviving legacies of the Mongols, the stories and issues of the current-day descendants, and how it must have felt as a steppe-dweller arriving at the end of his world and observing the oddity of sedentary life. At the heart of this will be Tim’s personal story as he strives to live a dream in the face of an epic adventure…first he has to learn to ride a horse!

 
Bio:

Tim Cope -National Geographic Adventure Honoree 2007, Australian Adventurer of the year 2006 - is a 30 year old from Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), who is pursuing a life of adventure, writing, and film. Tim, who speaks fluent Russian, and guides in Antarctica, Siberia, and Mongolia, has spent around five years travelling in regions of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine by bicycle, row boat, skis, horse, camel and many other means. Most of all Tim enjoys coming to know people in their home environments by traveling in traditional and local ways.
www.timcopejourneys.com