МАРСКА УЧКАН КЫРГЫЗДАР

Jyldyzbek has already built his rocket, and given it the name "Aldai" – a tribute to his lover, with whom he has no future since the village leaders have marriage plans of their own. And remarkably the rocket launch is a success. Together with a plumber responsible for the less glamorous, technical side of things, they launch into space, arousing in the process both astonishment and admiration on behalf of NASA. Once on Mars, a true friendship between the two very different astronauts - amidst the heated arguments, shared "aha" moments, and the friendly banter - develops. Up there it’s possible to step back and reflect, and if something on the rocket breaks down, the hardware is patched together in a crude yet effective way, just like that of old Lada down in the village. The happiness they find beyond Earth’s borders would be perfect were it not for the impending destruction of the planet they call home. And thus it is that the pair set off on a kamikaze mission, as Nurlanbek Kamchybekov's directorial debut evolves into a blend of village portrait, science-fiction, and heroic saga.

In its native Kyrgyzstan, the film proved a box office hit. In this Central Asian country with its 7.3 million inhabitants, approximately 50 feature-length and documentary films are produced every year. Many of these employ genre formats to introduce social problems to a larger audience. Horror films such as Burning or Red Dress address issues of domestic violence, whilst KYRGYZ ON MARS is also about more than just good, old-fashioned entertainment, with astronaut Jyldyzbek unable to reunite with his beloved Aldai since patriarchal arrangements dictate otherwise. Many of these films attract large audiences in their homeland, thus why the Bishkek International Film Festival has established a programme section for commercial films from Kyrgyzstan entitled Kyrgyzbox; this year, it featured KYRGYZ ON MARS.

Text: Bernd Buder

Sat 08.11. I 15:30 I KAMMERBÜHNE I original version with English subtitles + simultaneous German translation

Sun 09.11. I 17:30 I GLAD-HOUSE I original version with English subtitles + simultaneous German translation