Will Parrinello, Director/Producer | 2025 | 7 min.
2026 Official Selection
Determined to protect his homeland from mining, Batmunkh Luvsandash’s activism resulted in the creation of a 66,000-acre protected area in the Gobi Desert’s Dornogovi province, abutting tens of thousands of acres already protected by Batmunkh and allies. Home to Argali sheep, 75% of the world’s population of endangered Asiatic wild ass, and a wide variety of endemic plants, the protected area forms an important bulwark against Mongolia’s mining boom. His dogged determination to map and protect his homeland led to Batmunkh receiving the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia in 2025. The film is narrated by Academy Award nominated actress / environmentalist Sigourney Weaver.
Will Parrinello has been making award-winning documentaries for more than 40 years. His filmography includes Movies Around The World, a short for the 89th Academy Awards, seen by 85 million people in 250 countries, Water For Life; Mustang - Journey of Transformation; Emile Norman – By His Own Design; Dreaming of Tibet; Little Italy, Kerouac; and the multiple Emmy Award-winning series The New Environmentalists. Will co-produced Summer ’82 – When Zappa Came to Sicily; Sea Change; Yen For Baseball and Sumo Basho. He was director of photography on the Academy Award nominated feature documentary Tell The Truth & Run – George Seldes & the American Press, In The Light of Reverence and Standing On Sacred Ground.
