Shaman 2018 Mongolia documentary covers a quiet, real-world story: thousands of new shamans rising across Mongolia in response to climate crisis and environmental mismanagement — not a dramatized ritual film, but a grounded, observational one.
Shaman (2018) follows nomads, miners, climate refugees, and shamans across Mongolia as mismanagement of environmental and social change pushes the country into an extreme situation. Amid that pressure, thousands of new shamans have emerged in recent years, many rising specifically against the mistreatment of the land and the hardship facing nomadic communities — though, as the film is careful to note, “not every shaman is looking for the same kind of interest.”
Summaries
Climate pressure and mismanagement push Mongolia into crisis, and a new generation of shamans rises in response — their stories woven together with those of nomads, miners, and climate refugees.
Creator: David Gomez Rollan
Shaman 2018 Mongolia Documentary Movie Review: What It’s About
Directed by David Gomez Rollan, the film runs 82 minutes and was shot across Mongolia and Spain, in English. It carries no credited cast — this is an observational documentary built from real subjects, not actors, which is part of what gives its central claim (that shamanic practice is resurging as a direct response to ecological crisis) its weight.
An Honest Take
We’re flagging this one honestly: it carries no IMDb rating or vote count, and no critic reviews turned up in research — this is a small, under-the-radar documentary rather than a festival breakout or a widely reviewed release. What earns it a spot here is the subject itself. Mongolia’s post-socialist shamanic revival is a documented, real phenomenon, and this film places it directly alongside the mining expansion, disrupted grazing land, and displaced herders widely understood to be driving it, rather than treating shamanism as a standalone curiosity.
It’s a smaller, text-forward recommendation rather than one backed by buzz — worth knowing before you go looking for it.
Should You Watch It?
Watch it if you want to see how shamanic practice is functioning right now, as a direct response to real environmental and social pressure, rather than as a historical or exoticized subject. Skip it if you’re looking for a polished, widely-reviewed production — this is a modest, specific documentary, not a cinematic showcase.
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