Running to the Sky

Bus Stop

A puzzling fable about human relations inspired by Samuel Beckett (in Kyrgyz, beket means station). At a bus stop amid a snowy winter landscape, people wait. A boy, an adult, and an old man are at first joined by a woman, and then a disruptive drunk.

The Adopted Son

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.

Heavenly Nomadic

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

The Swing

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 Chimp

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.

Black Red Yellow

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.

Bride Kidnapping

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.

This Is What I Remember

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?