Kyrgyzstan

There’s a horse thief at large on the outskirts of Bishkek high up in the mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan’s capital. Otherwise not a lot happens in this small community that does at least boast a cinema. This is where stories of the war in Afghanistan, Bollywood fairy-tales from India or films by ex-Soviet director Tolomush Okeyev open up a window on the world. This is also where projectionist and horse thief Centaur lives with his deaf wife and young son. Theirs is a simple life and yet one that increasingly seems to fall foul of the jealously and intrigues of others. More

A nomadic family lives with their horses in the intoxicating nature of Kyrgyzstan. Schaiyr's husband drowned in the nearby river years ago. A new love is on the horizon as meteorologist Jermek sets up his measuring station next to Schaiyr's home. Told in the gentle rhythm of the nomadic life, director Mirlan Abdykalykow takes us on a journey through time into the easily vulnerable heart of a family and into the dreamlike nature. More

They call him "Svet-ake" ("Mr. Light"). The electrician is responsible for bringing more than just light to the people around him. Like moths, everybody is drawn to his kindness: those with short circuits in their electricity, and those with short circuits in their marriage, those who have taken all the power in the city, and those who have given up the will to live. He helps everyone and is everywhere. He doesn't even shy from breaking the law, rewinding an old and lonely pensioner's electricity meter so that he doesn't owe the State, but rather the State owes him. More

Is it possible to justify the bride kidnapping if “he” and “she” will create a happy family after that? People marry by mutual agreement and love. And it happens that they marry of parents’ interests will. But Kyrgyz people have such a custom when the bride is kidnapped. Rural herder Sagyn’s mother decides to marry her son to a modest girl Anara with parents of whom she has already come to an agreement. And he is in love with rural beauty Asyl, but who has a fiancé. More

Discontentment reigns in a Kyrgyzian village: money is not flowing as expected, everyone is trying to arrange his own business, if necessary secretly, communism is still finding adherents and the rustler Taschmat is at work, pursued by the village police man Salamat. The villagers belief in better times is weak, as well as their belief in a fair God. Be it Allah or Jehova, they prefer devoting themselves to terrestrial joy. While some are managing to profit from the situation, others are getting nothing. More

Beshkempir (The Adopted Son) takes its title from the name of the boy whose story it tells. His life is sunny and carefree, spent in childhood games, until the day he hears terrible news from his playmates: he is not his parents’ biological child. Overnight, his best friend becomes his rival and the young girl of his dreams starts going bicycling with somebody else. His pleasant and peaceful existence is over: if his parents are not his own, Beshkempir feels he has lost his whole identity. He tries to gradually overcome the problems that arise from this new situation. More