| Genghis Blues | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Roko Belic |
| Produced by | Roko Belic Adrian Belic |
| Starring | Paul Pena |
| Edited by | Roko Belic Adrian Belic |
| Music by | Paul Pena Kongar-ol Ondar |
Production company | Wadi Rum Films |
| Distributed by | Roxie Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Russian Tuvan |
Genghis Blues is a 1999 Americandocumentary film directed byRoko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singerPaul Pena to the isolatedRussian Republic ofTuva to pursue his interest inTuvan throat singing.[1]
It won the 1999Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary. It was also nominated for anAcademy Award in 2000 in theBest Documentary Feature category.[2][3][4]
The documentary captures the story of blind blues musicianPaul Pena. After a brush with fame and success in the 1970s, Pena's fortunes faded as he dealt with career and health problems.
While listening toshortwave radio, Pena heard a broadcast ofTuvan throat singing, the art of manipulating overtones while singing to make higher frequencies more distinguishable, essentially making it possible to sing two notes at once. Pena, over the course of several years, taught himself to throat sing to a very impressive degree. He eventually attended a concert of throat singing and, after the concert, impressed one of the throat singers,Kongar-ol Ondar, who invited him to visitTuva, a republic of theRussian Federation and a formerly independent country from 1921 to 1944, under the name of thePeople's Republic of Tannu Tuva, and the home of throat singing, to sing in the triennial throat singing festival held there.
The entire journey, as well as the extraordinary mix of cultures and music, is captured in the documentary.
The Belic brothers shot the film with twoHi8 camcorders and edited it themselves. They were allowed to edit the film during nighttime at a professional editing facility. It took them three and a half years to finish the film after they shot it. All this time they lived on $500 a month in an apartment above an auto repair shop.[5]Christopher Nolan, a longtime friend of the brothers, is credited for his "editorial assistance."