Discoveries from Kyrgyzstan World Cinema

It has been a lifelong dream of Kyrgyz director Melis Ubukeyev to create an elaborate film version of the Kyrgyz national epic 'Manas'. He spent years working with the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan to gather material for this film project, which would ultimately remain a dream. However, the director's efforts were not in vain: Not only did he make films in 1962 and 1988 about Manasçı – the revered oral storytellers who have preserved the epic for generations through melodic recitation –, but in 1995, to mark the 1,000th anniversary of 'Manas', he also created a beguiling essay film that not only recounts the epic’s sweeping narrative through a mix of breathtaking imagery and opulent costumes, but also weaves it into a semi-documentary exploration of Kyrgyz history and identity. Once almost impossible to find, the film has recently been restored by the film studio Kyrgyzfilm and uploaded to YouTube in 4K.

Shy and sometimes naive schoolboy Sashka lives with his grandmother and confides his secrets to a smart speaker because he has no friends. But Sashka has a special power - faith in miracles, thanks to which he gets into a whirlpool of extraordinary events. In the company of a witty genie from a jug and a smart speaker that has come to life, Alisa, Sashka sets off on a dangerous journey across half the world to find his parents, who after a sandstorm in Uzbekistan ended up in a magical city, captive to Shah Zaman. Sashka and company will face the machinations of the evil sorcerer Yusuf, battles on flying carpets, hot air balloon trips, chases across endless steppes, crossing the desert and meeting people who are ready to help the boy find his family again.

In a remote Kyrgyz village, 35-year-old Adil, who has the mind of an 8-year-old, lives with his elderly mother, Rayhan. She has always told him he is specially loved by God and destined for Paradise. But Adil refuses to go without her. Upon hearing from his young friend that a pilgrimage to Mecca on foot could secure his mother a place in Paradise too, Adil decides to embark on this journey.

Suyun, the beloved, youngest daughter of the Sultanbekova family, mysteriously goes missing one afternoon. A devastating phone call reveals that she has been kidnapped by an unknown man to be his sudden bride. As Suyun is driven further away from her family’s grasp, the Sultanbekovs must now face against all odds—come trial or shame—to bring her back.

A precocious orphan from Central Asia comes to America to find his long lost mother. Along the way he befriends a down on his luck small time hustler, and together they set in motion a daring scheme to solve all their problems. However, things don't go according to plan.

Lyrical tragicomedy. The eyes of the young hero, who will go through the rite of circumcision, shows the life of a Kyrgyz village on a holiday day.

Esen, a young man who has been expelled from his village, escapes with the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the village. Whilst being pursued, he is forced to fight for her hand in a battle that results in the destruction of a sacred totem tree. This puts the whole village in jeopardy, and it is up to Esen to redeem himself and save them all.

Aïdar, a young Kyrgyz man returns home from his studies in France, with a beautiful French fiancée in tow. His fiancée is warmly welcomed by the village and captivated by the beauty of the region, but he stubbornly refuses to tell his family that the two are engaged.

A young Kyrgyz woman is kidnapped and forced to marry. A drama about the desire for freedom in the clutches of a tradition.

Centaur lives a modest life with his family in rural Kyrgyzstan until he abruptly becomes the center of attention when he is caught stealing a racehorse at night. A story inspired by the myth when horses became the wings of men.

At a time when most females in Asia possess little or no power over their lives, headstrong Kurmanjan Datka defies her family's authority -- and ultimately becomes the ruler of her native Kyrgyzstan region.

tercerosombra is a surreal and experimental short film about suppressed emotions, childhood fears, bodily anxiety and the fragile relationship between memory and identity. Through fragmented tableaux, symbolic imagery and unsettling transitions, the film follows an emotional rather than narrative logic. Built around symmetrical compositions, distorted time perception and dreamlike visual metaphors, the film explores the psychological weight of trauma and the silent violence of inner collapse. Each scene functions almost like a living painting, slowly revealing pieces of a fractured subconscious. The film combines absurdism, psychological horror and poetic visual storytelling to create an intimate but disturbing cinematic experience.

Follows the party worker who gave up his own child, and a young woman who left her baby in the garbage. After 19 years, it can be seen that the same boy and his mother are living together in a drug dispensary.

Zamira Omorova is a programmer, accountant, and lawyer by training, and a yak herder by profession. Is her work a burden? Only she knows her deepest secrets.

Young Altyn eagerly leaves pastoral life behind for the modern comforts of the capital, but soon finds a corrupted society clashing with the values of her ancestors when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy. Mine development, melting glaciers and the loss of tradition are prominent symptoms of the current transformation of Kyrgyzstan, a country not often represented on the big screen.

A young woman, grappling with a devastating loss, wakes up each night feeling increasingly drained—as if someone were siphoning away her strength. In search of salvation, she travels to a seer living high in the mountains, where she discovers that she has fallen victim to an Albasty—an ancient, malevolent spirit that preys upon those broken by grief and unable to let go of the past. It assumes the guise of a person's deepest fear, gradually destroying them from within.

Anticipation of Love has settled in the heart of a young lady. The boundaries between dream and passion are very elusive. Life is full of physical deprivations and, of course, sensual pleasures, and the deep meaning of that all is Love. The deeper the feeling, the more intense the emotions. Each girl dreams about meeting her love one day. An experienced man helps her discover the world of passion and senses, and brings her to ‘heaven’s gate’ where the two of them will prevail. One can only imagine how many hearts were broken along the way to master the science of love. But passion blinds and soon the man becomes slave to the young woman’s sensual body. The carnal knowledge makes the girl try to subdue her love object. This is what the last film by Kim Ki-duk, shot in summer 2019 in Kyrgyzstan, is all about. The film was finished by Kim’s friends and colleagues after he unexpectedly passed away in December 2020.

In the 1940s, young Kirghiz boy falls hopelessly for Jamilla, but their love has no future.

A woman traverses a harsh, snow-covered desert in heavy boots, pulling a suitcase. On her journey, she meets a man who woos her and promises to love her forever. Right after she trusts him, she is left heartbroken by his sudden absence. She continues her journey. Next, she meets a soldier, who tells her to wipe off her tears and then teaches to use the sword to kill off anything that looks likes love. She is filled with anger now and continues on her journey. She meets a monk, who reminds her of what a soft delicate flower-like she was before ‘life’ happened to her. Will she use the sword to fight off? For the monk looks a lot like love.

The plot of the movie brings two people together - an immigrant filmmaker from Belarus and a 10 years old girl from the village in the south of Kyrgyzstan.

Year 2009. A small town on the shores of Issyk-Kul. Aktan, a schoolboy who dreams of joining the ranks of the National Security Committee, is faced with the injustice of the justice system. A local deputy is ready to do anything to protect his son Alan. Having failed to achieve justice under the law, Aktan and his childhood friend Kuba seize the courthouse with weapons in their hands.

Asema, a Kyrgyz city girl visiting her boyfriends family in the countryside, is mistaken for a villager and accidentally kidnapped by Sagyn, a young shepard who was too shy to ask the young girl for marriage.

The Chimp is the nickname of a teenage boy (with large ears) who lives in the small town of Balyktchy, Kirghizstan, a former part of the USSR in central Asia. His family is being torn apart by his dad's alcoholism, his emotions are being torn as he sees his friends pair off into couples, and his job working on the railtracks is uninspiring.

Tolubay, a connoisseur of horses, and his grandson get in trouble with a Khan due to his strict but correct opinions on horses.

In a suburban village, a house belonging to a young family who lost their firstborn catches fire. Neighbors say the house is cursed, as no one understands how the fire started, and witnesses have completely different versions of what happened. However, they all share something in common: the mystery that surrounds the house and its inhabitants.

Egemen, who makes a living by stealing scrap metal, has a secret lover, Meyerim. She was kidnapped, married, and then divorced with her daughter, so Egemen is unable to proudly introduce Meyerim to his family.

The world is on high alert, a nuclear bomb is incoming. A couple reveal secrets until the desperate end.

Young Seide lives in a secluded mountain village in the heart of Kyrgyzstan. She loves her freedom to ride her horse, the closest soul she has, and enjoys playing with the village boys. When she is faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage, her family decides to honor the tradition and kill Seide’s horse for the wedding celebration. Upset and feeling voiceless, Seide tries to understand her family’s decision but cannot let her horse be killed. Unfortunately, the horse, like herself, has nowhere to go.

The cooperation of Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan helps Russia resist Western economic sanctions. Due to the country’s strategic location, all Chinese goods bound for Central Asia and Russia must cross its borders, and it serves as a transshipment point for goods from countries with which Putin is not officially allowed to trade. Investigative journalist Ali Toktakunov, a long-time staff member of Radio Free Europe’s Kyrgyz section, helped to uncover the deeper implications.

The adventures of two old men who hitchhiked to their grandson in Europe. The young man dreamed that his grandfather and grandmother would attend his graduation. As luck would have it, the doctors forbade him to fly on a plane, but this did not stop him.

Recording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world, we explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together. Founded in 2008, it set out to explore our planet's identity and challenges in an attempt to answer the question: Who are we?

10-year-old Bakyt lives with his father. They go to the baths together and eat together. Their relationship is not verbose, the father tries to bring up independence in the child. Thus, the father does not come home at night. Bakyt, hiding his anxieties, continues his daily routine. He goes to school, cooks for himself, but every night without his father it becomes harder and harder for him to endure.

The craft of carpet weaving in Kyrgyzstan boasts a long and legendary history, and is an integral part of local life. Turdugul, known as the most skilled carpet weaver in the valleys, spent years practising this craft in solitude. That was until Kadyr the horse herder entered her life, sparking a long-overdue romance that ultimately ended in a wordless farewell – leaving only an unfinished carpet behind. Years later, when the black, red and yellow patterned carpet was unfurled at his funeral, memories slowly unfolded in her heart like woven threads.

This is a love story set in the steppes of Central Asia of today. Temür a thirty year old Kazakh decides to start life again in his ancestral village in the Kyrghyz Mountains. He discovers soon after his arrival that he is a misfit in this settlement of old conservative Islamic men,some women and children. The only ray of hope for him is Amira a young married woman who waits in frustration for her absentee husband - a Mujahideen. Temur watches sorrowfully as the individual village stories unfold at the same as he tries to help the community out in any way he can. In this way he comes closer to Amira and Taib, her young brother-in-law. In a dead end situation the lovers decide to leave the settlement and travel to a place that would hold out with their dreams. Written by Mira Tanna-Händel

Based on the story of Chingiz Aitmatov "The White Steamer". In a forest cordon, lost high in the mountains, an old man and an old woman and his daughter live with their family - a husband and a seven-year-old son named Shambala, which means "boy-candle" or "boy who radiates light." Shambhala faithfully believes in the ancient myth of the Mother Deer, who saved the last baby of their kind, Bugu, from enemies and fed him with her milk. And although over time people exterminated the deer, the boy believes that someday the deer will still return to their land.

The main hero of the film is an electrician with a far greater effect on the people around him than his job defines. He is the last link in a huge energetic system and he becomes the binding bridge between the geopolitical problems of post-soviet space and the common people. The economic devastation of the country had an enormous impact on the industrial workers and yet despite the upheaval, these people did not seize to love and suffer, to have and be friends and to enjoy their lives. In particular our resilient electrician, who possesses a wonderful and open heart. He not only brings electric light (which is often out) to the lives of the inhabitants of this small city, but he also spreads the light of love, loyalty, life and mainly laughter.

"The Penthouse" is a psychological thriller that follows Saina and David, a young family who moves into a luxurious penthouse in Kuala Lumpur to start a new life.

The Great Silk Road is the name for a mountain trade route now identifiable only by train tracks; it is on these tracks that our film finds four children at play, not far from their Kirghizstan village. A train meanders down the mountain and, following an argument, an artist is unceremoniously thrown-off a carriage and (so) eventually encounters the children.

At the Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan border, Aza and Samat work as members of a drug trafficking organization. One day, they run into Nazik, who has narrowly escaped from human traffickers.

Faced with an assignment to film something personal, Cem begins a quiet search for what that really means. A casual conversation with a close friend leads him to turn the camera toward the people who already shape his life. Through moments with his grandmother, spontaneous talks about family, and reflections on his dream of becoming a filmmaker, MozikMoro slowly transforms into a portrait of connection and self discovery. Between the ordinary and the intimate, Cem captures a world that is both deeply personal and universally human.

After living as an immigrant in the USA for 15 years, Azat flies to Kyrgyzstan to his family village. His father, Murat, died in the USA a year ago. It was his dying wish to pay back the money he owed to the villagers. Azat discovers the family home derelict. Choro, the younger brother of Murat, and their relations left a long time ago. Despite most villagers not liking him. One day, Choro, who was imprisoned because of Murat, arrives and the most important question about Murat's will is decided.

A family of nomads lives in the remote high mountains of Kyrgyzstan...

Documentary feature about Kyrgyzstan, the home of the poet Tschingis Aitmatov and his characters, encounters with nomads, Kyrgyz traditions and the impressive scenery.

As „wings of men“ they became the faithful companion of a great nomadic nation thousands of years ago. Today, 28 years after the Soviet occupation, the little horse is an essential part of the cultural heritage and the search for identity of the modern Kyrgyz people. Based on its own story, a so called „good brown horse“ leads through the film and offers an insight of what it could mean to be „todays wings of men“. Told by a horse’s voice and through its eyes, this short film still is a documentary, but also a poetic journey to a nomadic culture.

The second film by Kyrgyzstani director Aktan Arym Kubat (then credited by his Russian name Aktan Abdykalykov), it is the first of his autobiographical Kurak ("Quilt") Trilogy, followed by Beshkempir (The Adopted Son, 1998) and The Chimp (2001). Идиллия детства, радости, игры разрушается с возвращением в маленькое горное село моряка. В прекрасный мир девушки, мальчика и юродивого врывается великолепная морская форма с клешами и бескозыркой, и волшебная морская ракушка - источник всех их будущих бед.

The film is dedicated to the capital of Kyrgyzstan - Bishkek and its young people. They have dreams how to find their ways in life. There is a couple which meets after 5 years of separation in the airport and she finds out that he has a wife and kids. There are 2 candidates for a job, but one is a son of rich and established family, so he got the place through family connections while a poor guy stays jobless. There are a grandson and grandfather who broke a vase and try to find another one, so the mother/daughter would not notice the loss. It is all about our life, nice daily stories of a small town citizen.

Based on true events, several stories about disempowerment of women, are closely intertwined, affecting to each other's, unfolding against the background of the traditional, patriarchal society of modern-day Kyrgyzstan ultimately result in a series of tragic outcomes. The realities of modern-day Kyrgyzstan, despite the status of a "secular state", are violence, hypocrisy, and widespread infringement of the rights of women who are stay a socially unprotected part of the population. Under the conditions of aggressive propaganda of both patriarchal and radical, religious ideology, the ideas of feminism in Kyrgyzstan are equated with the popularization of LGBTQ communities, are openly criticized and the justice system, in most cases, takes the side of murderers and rapists.

Wanderlust refers to the desire to wander, to explore the world, be free, and feel like a stranger in your surroundings. When the wanderlust takes over you, you know that the adventure has begun, but not where or when it ends. And how do you make a documentary without an end? This is one of the questions that directors Cristiana Pecci and Matteo Maggi ponder on his film The Fifth Sun.

Women around the world are often subject to harmful stereotypes depicting them as being weaker or inferior to men. The world of sports is no exception. This film tells the stories of girls who have broken through stereotypes and are participating in sports that are usually dominated by men. It wasn't easy for them to get there, but it was certainly worth it.

After his long-lost son is suddenly thrust back into his life, a charismatic con artist takes to the road with his two wives, swindling everyone they encounter along their path.

In the Central Asian steppe, Kyrgyz herders live in conflict with a ghost. In winter, at -20 below zero, the last cabin in the valley awaits the arrival of an actor in peak of his career.

Twelve-year-old Jekshen, an exceptional runner, lives in a beautiful mountain village in Kyrgyzstan. His parents are divorced, and life with his alcoholic father is difficult. Lonely Jekshen only has his girlfriend from school and his father’s friends for support. They encourage him to take part in a big race—a race that could change his life for the better.

Serikpai and Amir grow up without a father, who once went to work in Russia, but never returned. They are waiting for him and hoping. Waiting for her husband and wife Polina. She remembers the short happiness of her former life. She tries to resist the current life, but it is given to her at too high a price…

The hardships of modern life for one of the families, unhappy in its own way and at the same time recognizable to others. A husband and wife are fighting and drinking, their eldest son lives on his parents-in-law's money, the middle daughter is a prostitute, and only the youngest daughter, confined to a wheelchair, mute, is watching it.