Atirkül in the Land of Real Men

Atirkül in the Land of Real Men 2023

5.20

In the vast plains of Kyrgyzstan, men have been cultivating a group sport with a long tradition. The aim of the game buzkashi is to steal the trophy of a dead goat from the rival team of riders, all while staying on horseback. Into this tough masculine world enters Atirkül, a woman with an enterprising spirit and a sense of humour. The film follows the everyday life of the headstrong horse lover Atirkül, whose ambition is to build her own buzkashi team of local young men to preserve the heritage of her native region. The ethnographic perspective alternates with a purely personal one, gradually revealing the possibilities of overcoming gender roles

2023

Deal at the Border

Deal at the Border 2024

1

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.

2024

Centaur

Centaur 2017

5.90

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.

2017

The Song of the Tree

The Song of the Tree 2018

5.30

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.

2018

Pure Coolness

Pure Coolness 2007

5.70

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.

2007

Call of God

Call of God 2022

6.90

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.

2022

Take and Run

Take and Run 2020

7.50

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

2020

The Chimp

The Chimp 2001

4.90

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.

2001

Jamila

Jamila 1994

1

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

1994

Tengri: Blue Heavens

Tengri: Blue Heavens 2008

5.50

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

2008

The Adopted Son

The Adopted Son 1998

6.90

In a remote Kyrgyz village, Beshkempir, an infant foundling, is taken in by five older women and later adopted by a couple unable to bear children of their own. Fast forward to his early teenage years, a pubescent Beshkempir is faced with all the problems of crushing on girls and courtship, reconciling with friends and dealing with death in the family. Above all he questions his place in the world as an adoptee.

1998

A Father's Will

A Father's Will 2016

1

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.

2016

Bride Abduction

Bride Abduction 2023

1

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.

2023

Running to the Sky

Running to the Sky 2019

6.50

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.

2019

This Is What I Remember

This Is What I Remember 2023

1

An amnesiac old man Zarlyk who after twenty-three years of ordeal in a foreign land, returns to his homeland. Events take place in a village in Kyrgyzstan, where he is brought by his matured son Kubat. Much has changed during his absence: the morals of the villagers, mired in the realities of a changing world, radicalization of Islam, growing crime, and moral corrosive corruption began to consume... Zarlyk’s wife Umsunai, having lost hope of his return, went into religion, married the local authority Jaichy. The bright past invades the already accustomed Umsunai’s life. But nothing touches Zarlyk. An inexplicable passion for collecting garbage replaced him everything. Will the memory return to him and will Umsunai gain lost happiness when they are pressed by tight attitudes and immorality of the clergy, when love has eclipsed recklessness?

2023

The Fierce One

The Fierce One 1973

4.60

A boy raises a wolf cub, but when released into the wild, it returns to attack him.

1973

Heaven Is Beneath Mother's Feet

Heaven Is Beneath Mother's Feet 2024

9.00

The 35-year-old Adil, a special person whose mental development remained at the level of an 8-year-old child, lives in a small village with his 75-year-old mother, Raikhan Apa, who always tells Adil that the Almighty loves him in a special way, and therefore he will go straight to Heaven. But Adil doesn't want to go to Paradise without his mother. One day he learns from another 8-year-old boy that if he takes his mother on foot to the holy city of Mecca, then his mother can go to Heaven. So he sets off.

2024

Anomaly

Anomaly 1992

1

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.

1992

Heavenly Nomadic

Heavenly Nomadic 2015

6.20

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

2015

The Light Thief

The Light Thief 2011

5.40

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.

2011