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Filmed in Mongolia, this documentary is an intimate portrait of an elder female shaman named Altantsetseg. We have rare, complete access to be with Altantsetseg as she prepares for, and goes into a shaman's trance. Much of what is known about shamanism focuses on objects and rituals, because that is all the uninitiated can see. But shamans see with much more than their eyes alone. Many sacred healers within indigenous and native communities are still following the ways of the ancestors. Uniquely, this film was written and directed by first time filmmaker Frances Ulman, who is also an initiated shaman, and a mentee of Altantsetseg. Previously Frances was a clinical psychologist in the USA, but left it all behind when the spirits called her onto her path. This is a film about a shaman, directed by a shaman. The close, personal relationship between these two women from different parts of the world is the alchemy of the film. It allows us into spaces within shamanism others have not brought to the screen. The weaving of similarities and profound differences between Altantsetseg and Frances emerges as an exploration of shamanism and much more. We see decolonisation as an action, the power of relationships, the wisdom of a living drum, myths of western psychology, and ways of balancing living sacredly with cellphones. Living in a world that doesn't always remember, here we are shown a way home to our hearts.

This film was made following the Shaman 95 Filmmaking Manifesto:
“This film is a living being. The film creates itself.”

• No pre-filming script

• No second takes

• No alteration of light and sound beyond what is natural, or already present on location

• No outsider film crew: All filming is done by those who are also on camera participating in the actions captured on film

• No false relationships: The main people on screen have longstanding and genuine relationships with each other off screen

• No false situations or reenactments: All situations, actions, and objects are part of the regular life of a shaman and those in community with shamans

• No pretending that humans made this film alone

Previously a clinical psychologist in the USA, Frances Ulman left a decade ago, after she began having perceptions that psychology says is not possible. She now lives in Sápmi (the indigenous lands of Northern Europe, in Troms, Norway side) with her partner, while also living nomadically within community in Greenland, Mongolia, and the Carolinas USA.

Living in community in several cultures, not as a researcher but as someone on her own sacred path, Frances lives a life less common. After years of training, she is now initiated into a lineage of shamans in Mongolia. In Sápmi, the sacred healers called noaidi are more often known from stories and legends than a person known by name, particularly for outsiders. It is often said that real noaidi never name themselves as noaidi. But this is not true on all lands. The secrecy of sacred healers to outsiders, in Sápmi, and in indigenous and native cultures elsewhere, comes in part from the history of colonization over the last few centuries. Historically, to be known was to put yourself and your community at great risk from outsiders. Removing the sacred healers was a way to remove communities from a source of their wisdom and strength. Frances’ motivation for filmmaking was sparked by seeing how this internalized silence is no longer bringing protection to all sacred healers, or to their communities.

Now, in the space left barren from the loss of remembering who and what sacred healers truly are, people no longer understand what it truly means to be a sacred healer.

When we no longer remember, we become fragile. Our minds are easily occupied by stories that serve others in power, instead of connecting communities with their strength and purpose.

In this loss of remembering, clinical psychologists slipped in and asserted their power over us. They told us we were sick, and we believed them. They told us the source of our sickness was to be found in something they called “the individual.” The treatments they offered said our only way to heal was to politely talk in therapy, or take a pill. Healers produced from colonizing cultures do not teach us how to connect with our ancestors and the land, and they cannot teach us how to become connected and healthy.

In this loss of remembering, new age spirituality - a product of colonizing minds - has grown like an invasive species. When we no longer know real sacred healers and what they can do, waves of charlatans and the confused rush in, proclaiming they can heal us. We can’t tell the difference between what is real and what is not.

In this loss of remembering the old sacred ways. we remain amnesiac. We remain disconnected from our source of strength within, unable to communicate with our ancestors and the land, and disempowered.

Frances makes films with the hope to connect us with rare, real sacred healers and their wisdom, so we may all remember the true magic they carry. Their purpose was, and remains, to connect all people with the power and purpose each of us possess in our own lives.

Filmed in Mongolia, this documentary is an intimate portrait of an elder female shaman named Altantsetseg. We have rare, complete access to be with Altantsetseg as she prepares for, and goes into a shaman's trance. Much of what is known about shamanism focuses on objects and rituals, because that is all the uninitiated can see. But shamans see with much more than their eyes alone. Many sacred healers within indigenous and native communities are still following the ways of the ancestors. Uniquely, this film was written and directed by first time filmmaker Frances Ulman, who is also an initiated shaman, and a mentee of Altantsetseg. Previously Frances was a clinical psychologist in the USA, but left it all behind when the spirits called her onto her path. This is a film about a shaman, directed by a shaman. The close, personal relationship between these two women from different parts of the world is the alchemy of the film. It allows us into spaces within shamanism others have not brought to the screen. The weaving of similarities and profound differences between Altantsetseg and Frances emerges as an exploration of shamanism and much more. We see decolonisation as an action, the power of relationships, the wisdom of a living drum, myths of western psychology, and ways of balancing living sacredly with cellphones. Living in a world that doesn't always remember, here we are shown a way home to our hearts.

This film was made following the Shaman 95 Filmmaking Manifesto:
“This film is a living being. The film creates itself.”

• No pre-filming script

• No second takes

• No alteration of light and sound beyond what is natural, or already present on location

• No outsider film crew: All filming is done by those who are also on camera participating in the actions captured on film

• No false relationships: The main people on screen have longstanding and genuine relationships with each other off screen

• No false situations or reenactments: All situations, actions, and objects are part of the regular life of a shaman and those in community with shamans

• No pretending that humans made this film alone