Mongolian cinema has a new international breakthrough. EINPresswire reports that director S. Byamba's feature film Zogsool has won four awards at the 31st Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, including the Vision of Jiseok Award, the Hylife Vision Award, the NETPAC Award and the International Critics Prize.
Co-produced by Guru Media and Nomadia Pictures, the film was made over two years with more than 50 filmmakers and creative professionals from Mongolia, Germany, France, Thailand and Cambodia, and was selected from over 3,000 international submissions. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zogsool examines everyday life through satire and metaphor, exploring compassion, resilience and hope amid political and economic upheaval.
According to UltaPaltaKhabar, Zogsool dominated the festival's Vision Awards, which celebrate emerging filmmakers across Asia. Korean drama Full Moon took three awards, while Indian filmmaker Shashank Walia's Birds in the Dark earned the Asian audience award — a snapshot of the diverse independent cinema drawing attention at one of Asia's premier festivals.
Per EINPresswire, Zogsool is scheduled to premiere in Mongolia in November 2026. For Nomadia Pictures, founded in 2013 to bring Mongolian stories to wider audiences, the Busan sweep marks a landmark achievement — and a sign of Mongolian filmmakers' growing reach on the international stage.
The win is a landmark for the team behind it. Nomadia Pictures, founded in 2013, has spent over a decade working across features, television and documentaries with the explicit mission of carrying Mongolian stories to global audiences — and Zogsool, with its five-country crew and two-year production, embodies that ambition. Its November 2026 Mongolian premiere will be a homecoming for a film that has already conquered Busan; if the festival buzz is any indication, the international festival circuit is only getting started with S. Byamba.