Selection

Screening: Professional Competition 9
Kazakhstan 2021
Duration: 13:05
Directed: Dilshat Rakhmatullin
Screenplay: Dilshat Rakhmatullin, Aya Alimbayeva
Production: Dilshat Rakhmatullin, Gulmira Ablapova
Dialogue Language: Kazakh

A young family lives in a mountainous area near a small lake. Their baby is sick. Nothing helps. The father prays to the gods, tying ribbons to the sacred tree. He invites baksy to the house. Baksy discovers an evil spirit that strangles the life force from the child. He fights against the dark forces, but he defeats, and the exhausted baksy leaves their house, letting the helpless parents alone in their misfortune and misery. At night, the desperate mother goes to the lake and begs the great Umai Ana for help. With the rays of moonlight, the goddess of motherhood and family hearth appears in the yurt. There starts a fierce battle between good and evil for the life of a child. An ancient lullaby, intertwoven with ancient prayers, runs like a red thread through the entire film. It is the last thing the parents cling to hope in their hearts, and it becomes a hymn of victory over evil, light over darkness, and life over death.