Shimon Dotan was born in Romania in 1949 and moved to Israel in 1959. He grew up in an agricultural cooperative, served five years in the Israeli military as a Navy Seal, and went on to get his BFA at Tel Aviv University, where his student films won twice Israel's Best Short Film and Best Director Award s. Dotan is the recipient of numerous award s including, the Special Jury Prize for Best World Documentary Feature at Sundance Film Festival (Hot House), Silver Bear Award at Berlin Film Festival (Smile of the Lamb, best actor), Best Film Award at New Port Beach Film Festival (You Can Thank Me Later), two times winner of Israeli Academy Award for Best Film and Best Director (Repeat Dive, Smile Of The Lamb) and others. Dotan's feature films have received both critical acclaim and commercial success. His debut writing/directing/producing effort, Repeat Dive (1982), which chronicles Dotan's own experiences as a member of Israel's elite Navy Commando unit, won three Israeli Academy Award s, including Best Picture and Best Director, and was selected for the official competition at the Berlin and Chicago Film Festivals. He followed that effort with two quasi-documentaries, Souvenirs from Tel Aviv and Souvenirs from Hebron (1982). His 1986 feature film The Smile of the Lamb (1986), written, directed by Dotan and co-produced with Yonatan Aroch, won numerous award s including the Silver Bear at Berlin and six Israeli Academy Award s, including those for Best Director and Best Picture. In 1991, Dotan wrote and directed The Finest Hour starring Rob Lowe, Tracy Griffith and Gale Hanson. After moving to Montreal Canada in 1991 Dotan co-founded Cinequest Films Inc. together with partner Netaya Anbar. In 1994 Dotan directed and produced Warriors, starring Macha Grenon, Gary Busey and Michael Pare. In 1996 Dotan directed and produced Coyote Run, starring Peter Greene, Macha Grenon and Michael Pare. The critically acclaimed You Can Thank Me Later (1999), was produced together with Anbar and directed by Dotan in 1999 and starred Ellen Burstyn, Genevieve Boujold, Amanda Plummer and Mary McDonnell. It was award ed Best Film at Newport Beach Film Festival, selected for the closing night at the Palm Springs Film Festival and had it's opening gala at the Montreal Film Festival. In 1999-2000 Dotan produced The List (1999) with Ryan O'Neal, Rock Lafortune and Ben Gazara, Cause of Death (2000) with Maxim Roy, Patrick Bergin and Michael Ironside and Wilder (2000) with Pam Grier, Romano Orzari and Rutger Hauer. In 2001 Dotan produced Hidden Agenda with Dolph Lundgren and Maxim Roy. In 2003 Dotan wrote the script for Watching TV With The Red Chinese and in 2005 he wrote Frenzy based on a novel by David Grossman. In 2006 Dotan wrote, directed and co-produced the documentary/feature Hot House. It won the Special Jury Award for Best World Documentary at Sundance. In 2007 Dotan produced the Canadian-Chinese coproduction Diamond Dogs.
American ex-soldier Ronson (Dolph Lundgren) has fallen on hard times. He has been reduced to brutal illegal prizefights in the dingy backstreets of a city in Inner Mongolia in an attempt to pay off his debts. Things go from bad to worse after Ronson is caught in the act and arrested. The judge offers Ronson a choice: pay off all his debts in a month or return to jail. While Ronson is busy debating his limited options, he encounters the alluring Anika (Yu Nan), whom he follows down an alley only to be attacked by three thugs. After successfully beating off his attackers, he learns that the fight has been an elaborate audition for Anika's stepfather Chambers, a wealthy New York art collector. Chambers offers Ronson enough money to settle all his debts if he will guide an expedition composed of Chambers (William Shriver), Anika, several of Chambers' men and archeologist Ang Shaw into the rugged mountains of Mongolia...