Kyrgyzstan - Best International Feature Film

In a Kyrgyz village, five older women adopt an infant foundling. Jump ahead about 12 years: the boy, Beshkempir, is entering puberty, the age, his granny says, when life goes berserk. He plays with friends, horsing around, sniggering about sex, going to an outdoor movie. He works, fishing and making bricks of mud. And, he's starting to notice girls. He and his best friend fight, and he learns to his consternation that he's a foundling. A death in the family pushes Beshkempir even faster toward adult roles: he must brush tears from his eyes, lead a funeral procession, and reconcile with his friend. Then, he borrows a bicycle and calls on Aynura: courtship begins.

A teenager in a Kirgiz provincial town passes the time between his work at the railroad and hanging out with his friends before he has to join the military service.

There is great excitement in Aidar's home one fine day when he comes back from Paris to his mountain village with a charming French girl called Isabelle. Aidar has changed but everything at home has remained the same. Lake Issyk-Kul sparkles silver and turquoise, the air is so pure it tinkles and the snow-covered summits of the mountains sparkle in the sun. Isabelle cannot understand how Aidar could leave such beauty behind and why he cannot tell everyone that she is his fiancee. But shades of the past, embodied in the grim figure of the local postman, give Aidar no rest. A threat hangs over the couple's love.

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.

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.

Kyrgyzstan. Ascel is engaged to Sultan, the local Mr Big with the grandest house. This looks like a palace to Ascel, who lives in a hovel with her drunkard father. She doesn't love Sultan, but she wants a better life. She is having an affair with Marat and expecting his child. She marries Sultan but immediately leaves for Moscow for an abortion, and starts living with gastarbeiters. She sells her unborn child to Virginie, a French woman. She becomes housemaid to (and then lover of) a rich New Russian, Arkady. Marat appears, starts a fight with Arkady and gets arrested. Ascel decides to go to France and stay with Virginie. But she discovers that the latter has a mental disease. Then the baby arrives...

The relevant epic story of the strong-willed, courageous and independent woman before her time, Kurmanjan, who is revered to this day for her diplomacy for saving her nation from complete destruction when the Russians invaded.

A family of nomads live in the high, remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia; elderly herdsman Tabyldy, his wife Karachach, their daughter-in-law Shaiyr and their 7 year old granddaughter Umsunai. Shaiyr's son studies in the city and visits them only during the summer holidays. Her husband died many years ago when he was drowned in a mountain river, trying to save a foal. Shaiyr decided to stay with the family due to her strong attachment to the wonderful land and its people. The family breed horses and life goes on as normal amidst the beautiful scenery of the mountain gorge. But another resident of the area appears in Shaiyr's life, meteorologist Ermek, whose weather station is located near to the family's home...

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, Azat repairs the family home and repays the money his father owed. One day, Choro, who was imprisoned because of Murat, arrives and the most important question about Murat's will is decided.

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.

An odd couple of lost souls share an uneasy friendship while riding a motorcycle on a lonely stretch of moonlit highway.

Central Asia. A sanatorium called Aurora, is located at the shores of the high mountainous lake Issyk-Kul and the action of the film is taking place in this sanatorium. All happens in one day. The sanatorium serves as a mirror of the whole country, which is a kind of health resort for its population, with its beautiful nature. Sudden break of the balance between time and space leads to the start of the mechanism of fatal processes.

Twelve-year-old Jekshen is an exceptional runner. 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 that could change his life for the better.

A young boy in a mountain forest explores nature and hears his grandfather's tales of Mother Deer. His innocent view of the world contrasts with the difficult realities experienced by the adults in his life.

Damir is being threatened in an abandoned factory. Loan sharks even go to his home, where his pregnant wife, Cholpon, and their young daughter are. The loan sharks harass the family, even to the point of writing "home for sale" on the exterior of their house. Damir desperately tries to borrow money from his relatives, friends, and anyone else he knows; Cholpon also struggles to prevent the worst from happening. To the couple, every second is urgent, but their conversations are concise; their actions plain. With occasional silences and pauses, the film indifferently watches the couple's pressing circumstances, and paradoxically such indifference adds to the tension. Driven to a dead end, each makes the best choice for themselves. Yet ironically their choices are incompatible, and this irony shows the present state of Kyrgyzstan.

A man who has lost his memory while working in Russia and returns to Kyrgyzstan for the first time in 20 years.

Adil, mentally 8-year-old, lives with elderly mother Raikhan. Believing pilgrimage to Mecca on foot ensures Raikhan's heaven entry, Adil travels across Kazakh steppe facing obstacles. Mother-son journey's hardships depicted.