The Eagle Huntress

The Eagle Huntress (2016) is Otto Bell's documentary, free to watch online on iFILM. In the snowbound Altai mountains of western Mongolia, a thirteen-year-old Kazakh girl named Aisholpan sets out to do something her people reserved for men: hunt with a golden eagle.

For twelve generations the craft passed from father to son. Aisholpan wants in. She scales a cliff to lift an eaglet from its nest, raises it by hand, trains it to the glove, and aims for the Golden Eagle Festival, where the region's best hunters compete every year. The elders grumble that the saddle is no place for a girl. Her father Rys disagrees and coaches her like he would any boy.

The camera catches what you can't fake — forty below, white ridgelines, the dive of a bird folding into a stoop. Daisy Ridley narrates the English cut and co-produced the film. It's gorgeous, unforced and easy to share with kids. Stream The Eagle Huntress (2016) online on iFILM.