Acting
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.
Under Heaven, written and directed by Dalmira Tilepbergen, is a modern day re-working of the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, set in a remote mountain village in Central Asia. Two brothers, rebellious Kerim and conscientious Aman, live with their mother and work at the family stonemason business. Their father has been forced to work away in Russia in order to pay off Kerim's debts, incurred as a result of his eldest son's drug dealing activities. The brothers both fall for a local village girl, Saltanat, which ultimately leads to a bitter dispute and unforeseen and tragic consequences...
The Solar Children, a group of dwarves who left the circus, are trying to start a settlement in the Kyrgyzstan wilderness just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, but are harassed by a gang of bikers. With their meager savings, they hire a ragtag group of heroes to drive off the bikers.
The film combines the actors' acting and hand-drawn animation. The story in the film is told in the first person: an elderly man tells his life story to the children sitting in the hall. In a collision with himself when he was a young horseman, and with the direct reaction of children to his story, the main theme of the cartoon is revealed — love for his native land.
