Darezhan Omirbayev

A film director and an actor have worked till midnight at a film studio. A security guy locked all doors and so now our heroes have to look for an exit, walking through the studio and meeting various people on their way – famous Kazakh film directors, film critics and just strangers.

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Spurred by his own postmodern musings and the growing inequality, corruption, and kill-or-be-killed ethic of post-Soviet Kazakhstan, a solitary philosophy student steers his directionless life toward the commission of a violent crime, which leads to growing guilt.

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An eight year old boy has no mother and misses very much a female presence in his life. When a young nurse comes to take care of his ill father, the boy falls in love with her.

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The stranger is John, an American visiting Kazakhstan as part of an exchange programme for "medical expertise". He meets the local people who lead a free and simple life. With his new friends, John will live through a series of adventures. He spends four very strange days with a friend and colleague. Back at his hotel, John hears that his friend has died in mysterious circumstances, but people say he had in fact been dead for several days.

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Art and life are different worlds, separated by an impassable abyss. Where there is life, there is no art, and vice versa. Young artists have to make that choice, sometimes from a rather young age.

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Didar is a poet, but he cannot live from his poetry. He has to write early in the mornings before setting out for his day job as a newspaper editor. Didar is surrounded by a sense of crisis, not just because of his economic situation but also due to discussions at work about the diminishing significance of Kazakh culture, dying languages, and the worldwide dominance of English. He is questioning whether poetry is still relevant in today’s world, but finds solace in contemplating a rebellious 19th-century poet, Makhambet Otemisuly.

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This educational film is intended for students of film schools. It illustrates the concept of directors copying each other.

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Spurred by his own postmodern musings and the growing inequality, corruption, and kill-or-be-killed ethic of post-Soviet Kazakhstan, a solitary philosophy student steers his directionless life toward the commission of a violent crime, which leads to growing guilt.

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Kairat, a teacher of mathematics, accidentally meets Aslar, along with whom he studied in university. Askar invites him to his home, where Kairat becomes acquainted with Togzhan, the wife of Askar. And he falls in love with her. Though this love was mutual, they couldn't step over the obstacles already made by their lives. Their emotions delayed. The script is based on the novel by Chekhov's About Love, Gooseberry.

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This program features three digital short films by Asian filmmakers. Singapore veteran filmmaker Eric Khoo's NO DAY OFF (39 min) records the life of a maid who leaves her husband and baby for Singapore. Darezhan Omirbayev's ABOUT LOVE (38 min) is a bitter love story based on Anton Chekhov's novel, in which a lonely math teacher falls in love with her married university classmate. Pen-ek Ratanaruang's TWELVE TWENTY (30 min) depicts the encounters of a man and a woman on a long haul flight, where they spend the next twelve hours and twenty minutes reading, drinking, eating and watching movies and sleeping by each other's side, as if they are a married couple.

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A filmmaker, Kobessov, awakens from an anxiety nightmare: during the preview of his newest film, the projectionist mixes up the reels and begins to show a bad karate film by accident. Although Kobessov objects to the mix-up, the public is ecstatic and refuses to allow the projectionist to interrupt the screening to show Kobessov's film.

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Marat works as a personal driver in Almaty, capital of Kazakhstan. When he hits a Mercedes, the nightmare begins. The loan he accepts to pay for the damages puts him at the mercy of a Mafia boss.

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A 12-year-old boy from the isolated steppes in Kazakhstan has first encounter with the outside world when he is sent to a children's clinic with a treatable heart condition. It is here that he gets his first taste of the pain and pleasure of love when he falls for a kindly young nurse. His crush becomes a bit of an obsession, he spies on her frequently and experiences his first moments of sexual awakening. Also at the institution everyone speaks Russian and soon Jasulan will face exclusion in his own country.

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Living in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a young man is preparing to become a bus conductor. One day, in between wandering the city streets and going to the movies, he makes the acquaintance of a female student.

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One hot summer afternoon, two boys try to earn the cash for a movie in this beautiful evocation of the landscape of childhood.

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Anthology film by the group of young Kazakh filmmakers trained by Sergey Solovyov. Includes novels about love-driven suicide attempt, tank division and a summer camp for children. Was never finished.

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