Eagle Huntress, The

Documentary, Adventure, Family

The Eagle Huntress follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter.

The critical consensus

It would take a cold heart not to feel some uplift from Aisholpan's game-changing triumph against the odds.

(*) (*) Eddie Harrison, The List, 12/12/2016

The director’s achievement is not only to have to have discovered his subjects but to have won their trust and affection.

(*) Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 14/12/2016

A great subject – a Kazakh teenager who wants to defy gender stereotypes and hunt with eagles – results in a heartwarming but unsurprising, risk-free film.

(*) (*) Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 15/12/2016

The Eagle Huntress tugs at the heartstrings but it is an undeniably beautiful, rousing true-life tale.

(*) Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 16/12/2016

Takes you on an exhilarating, heartwarming journey. A delight.

(*) Rebecca Speare-Cole, Little White Lies, 17/12/2016

The story of a young Mongolian girl who takes up a traditionally male role in her nomadic community is heartwarming, but perhaps too good to be true.

(*) (*) (*) Wendy Ide, The Observer, 18/12/2016