About

Writer–director Mirlan Abdykalykov crafts a powerful reckoning with tradition versus modern values in his acclaimed film, Bride Kidnapping 2023, which examines the place of women in contemporary Kyrgyzstan. On the scrappy outskirts of Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek it’s clear that making a living is tough, rules are often bent or broken, ambulances need to be push-started and electricity is cut even in the dead of winter when bills can’t be paid. However, this hard-living environment doesn’t always breed hardened people. The luminous and kind 19-year-old Umut has just found work as a nurse, lives happily with her parents and has dreams of furthering her education abroad. On her way home from work one afternoon, the course of her life takes a shockingly unexpected turn.

Director Mirlan Abdykalykov has been immersed in film since childhood, regularly acting in his father Aktan Arym Kubat’s films and stars in Kubat’s This is What I Remember 2022 – also screening in the ‘Children of Independence’ film program. Bride Kidnapping deftly brings into sharp focus the experience of the women who are caught up in the various roles of this ancient, but enduring custom. The film is a searingly potent protest to end this barbaric practice.

Ages 18+ | Adult themes, sexual violence