Bride Kidnapping

• Mirlan Abdykalykov
• 80 min
• Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan
• 2023
• Fiction

Gender roles are challenged, and victims become perpetrators in a gripping and award-winning psychological thriller about bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan.

The introverted small-time merchant Egemen lives with his father and makes a living through petty thefts on the outskirts of Bishkek. Umut is an ambitious young woman living with her mother. She's searching for a job and wants to move abroad to support her family. Meanwhile, a whistleblower appears to expose some of the society's scandals where the law is systematically broken, and much can be solved with bribes. Slowly but surely, their fateful destinies intertwine. Abdykalykov's depiction of macabre traditions is a compelling protest film where the orthodox meets the progressive. A bold, heart-wrenching story based on real events that still occur daily in contemporary Kyrgyzstan.

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