Director: Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Executive producer: Assel Sadvakassova, Kanat Bitemirov, Yerbol TOIBAYEV, Producer: Serik ABISHEV, Olga KHLASHEVA Co-producer: Guillaume de Seille, Scriptwriter: Adilkhan YERZHANOV, Inna SMAILOVA, Kazakhstan/France, Language: Russian and Kazakh, 2020, 90′ (soon available as series), Rights: World
He’s got a gun, a girl and a dream
Ex-con Kermek and his beloved Eva want to leave their crime-infested lives on the Kazakh steppes behind. He has a dream: building a movie theatre in the mountains. Will Kermek’s love of Alain Delon be strong enough to keep them out of the violent clutches of the mafia?
Review
“The fabulously distinctive Kazakh filmmaker’s most accessible and purely enjoyable film to date is steeped in offbeat cinephilia, ultimately operating as a cock-eyed tribute to Terrence Malick’s “Badlands,” an outlaw-lovers-on-the-run tale that meshes sly genre acumen with sharp social satire to deliver a droll and delightful riff on an age-old story: lovable misfits pursuing untenable dreams in a world hardwired against dreamers.”
“Yerzhanov has evolved a recognizable, inventively absurdist aesthetic by now, and DP Yerkinbek Ptyraliyev’s droll imagery is perfectly on that wavelength, equal parts Malick and Aki Kaurismaki, always sitting as far from the action as can be, while still delivering the maximum hit of humor or heart or, occasionally, sudden violence”
Jessica Kiang Variety
Cast
Azamat Nigmanov as Kermek
Kamila Nugmanova as Eva
Sanjar Madi as Zhambas
Directors Bio
Born in 1982 in Djekazgan in Kazakhstan, Adilkhan Yerzhanov studies at the Academy of national arts from where he graduated in 2009 in cinema production. After three remarkable short films, he directs several feature films: REALTORS (2011) is presented in international competition at the Dubai Festivals, Almaty and Porto Alegre. He gets the Prize
special jury in Kinoshock (Anapa) and St. Petersburg, the Grand Prix in Seoul and in Kinolikbek. He won the Kulager, Prix du
best Kazakh first film. CONSTRUCTORS is presented in competition in Wiesbaden then in Edinburgh in
2013. OWNERS is invited to a special session of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival
in 2014 then obtained the Free Spirit Prize at Warsaw, a special mention at the Festival of Chicago, the NETPAC Prize at the
Beirut and the Special Jury Prize in Minsk. THE PLAGUE OF THE VILLAGE OF KARATAS is invited to Rotterdam in 2016 where he obtained the NETPAC Prize then in Sochi where he obtains the Grand Prix. NIGHT GOD is presented in competition at Moscow Festival in 2018. THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD is presented in the Official Selection of the Festival of Cannes, Un Certain Regard in 2018. ATBAI’S FIGHT is presented in competition in Warsaw in 2019 then in Friborg in March 2020. A DARK, DARK MAN is presented in San Sebastián Festival competition
in 2019 and received the Best achievement at the Asia pacific screen awards 2019. YELLOW CAT and Ulbolsyn are recent films and he has two more films in post-production.
Awards
