30th Busan IFF: "Kurak" wins two awards!

Dates & place: 17-26.09.2025, Busan, South Korea

Film "Kurak" was included to the Vision competitive program

Vision of Jiesok Award goes to "Kurak"!

Bangladesh Jury Memorial Prize also goes to "Kurak"!

Thus, "Kurak" wins two awards: Vision of Jiesok Award and Bangladesh Jury Memorial Prize.

«Kurak», 2025, 89', Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Serbia, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy

Script-writer: Erke DZHUMAKMATOVA

Directors: Erke DZHUMAKMATOVA & Emil ATAGELDIEV

Cinematography: Erzhan ARAKEEV

Editor: Anthony AKERA

Music: Rafaelle PETRUCCI

PRODUCERS:

Erke DZHUMAKMATOVA

Kairat BIRIMKULOV

Katerina TARBO-IGNATENKO

Pavel FELDMAN

Alexander SELIVERSTOV

Alexandra HOESDORFF

Désirée NOSBUSCH

CAST:

Ainura KACHKYNBEK KYZY

Aliman RYSPEKOVA

Begaiym ASANAKUNOVA

Kalipa TASHTANOVA

Amangeldy ABDRAHMANOV

Atai OMURBEKOV

Talant ABDYLDAEV

Almaz RAIMZHANOV

Damira OROZBEKOVA

Maksat SABAEV

Program Note:

The film opens with newsreel footage of a 2020 women’s protest in Bishkek. The rally for women’s rights is violently disrupted by opposing men, and police who had been standing by suddenly begin arresting the female protesters. From this scene symbolizing the present state of Kyrgyz women’s rights, the film crosses into fiction, layering the stories of two young women—Meerim, who secretly works as a webcam model, and Nargiza, who has just started a romantic relationship. As their stories unfold, archival footage of women’s rights exhibitions, performance art, and protests weaves through the narrative, providing context for their extreme circumstances. As suggested by the title ‘kurak,’ meaning patchwork in Kyrgyz, this film powerfully paints how the voices of various women—not just Meerim and Nargiza, but all the women in the film—break through a massive cartel of oppression, interlocking piece by piece into a single woven narrative. (PARK Sun Young)

Erke Dzhumakmatova

Co-director of "Kurak" Erke Dzhumakmatova

Erke Dzhumakmatova has over 25 years of experience in the film industries of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as a producer, screenwriter, and international project manager. She has participated in numerous educational programs and international workshops for screenwriters and producers. In collaboration with Emil Atageldiev, she co-wrote, co-directed, and produced her first feature film Beyond (2013). She also wrote and produced The Lake (2020), which was screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival and the British Independent Film Festival. Kurak is her second directorial feature.

Co-direcor of "Kurak" Emil Atageldiev

Emil Atageldiev was an international award-winning pianist, Honored Artist, and Honored Worker of Cinematography of the Kyrgyz Republic. He directed the short film Moses: Sea Inside (2012) and the feature film The Lake (2020), which was invited to the Shanghai International Film Festival and the British Independent Film Festival. He passed away on August 25, 2024.