Erke Dzhumakmatova

Based on true events, several stories about disempowerment of women, are closely intertwined, affecting to each other's, unfolding against the background of the traditional, patriarchal society of modern-day Kyrgyzstan ultimately result in a series of tragic outcomes. The realities of modern-day Kyrgyzstan, despite the status of a "secular state", are violence, hypocrisy, and widespread infringement of the rights of women who are stay a socially unprotected part of the population. Under the conditions of aggressive propaganda of both patriarchal and radical, religious ideology, the ideas of feminism in Kyrgyzstan are equated with the popularization of LGBTQ communities, are openly criticized and the justice system, in most cases, takes the side of murderers and rapists.

"The Lake" tells the story of a girl named Jyldys who lives with her family in a village by the Issyk-Kul. Her life is hard. Her classmates tease her because she rarely speaks and often stays in her own world. The only solace she finds is in the company of a wise old man, Temirkul, who was once her father's teacher. Since Temirkul's own daughter drowned in the lake, he clings to the old legend about fish that embody the souls of those who have passed away. The lake is truly sacred to him. When his wife dies, he comes up with the idea of ​​placing her body in the lake instead of burying her in the ground. Jyldys's father, on the other hand, is devoted to the old traditions and says his former teacher's ideas are madness. He believes the only way to help him is to pledge his own land to arrange a proper funeral for his late wife.

The team of the TV reality show "Beyond" who looking the evidence or refutation of paranormal phenomena decides to spend the night in abandoned science institute, where are mysterious phenomena take place.