Best Kazakhstani drama movies

This is the story of the life of the great queen of the steppe - legendary Tomiris. She is destined to become a skillful warrior, survive the loss of close people and unite the Scythian/Saka tribes under her authority.

Story of a man named Sayan, that had to live through harsh 1990s and make tough decisions.

This is a survival story - a Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea' as if written for our days.

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.

A universal story about the freedom of the human spirit and the struggle against slavery and despotism, about love, loss and betrayal. It is seen through the eyes of simple Kazakh kids and teenagers.

Tamara is searching for her missing son in a small town consumed by riots and violence. In a desperate attempt to get him back, she decides to offer a reward to an amoral former investigator whose methods prove to be sadistic. Determined, Tamara decides to complete the mission with the nihilistic detective, no matter what the cost.

In the 1920-30s, 70% of the indigenous population died from the Great Famine created by the Bolsheviks in Kazakhstan. Overcoming the dreadful fear of death and despair, an eagle hunter's family from a Kazakh village in the highlands is trying to stay alive in the midst of the fierce winter and face a moral choice, to die as human beings or to survive at any cost, transgressing the human decency.

Alma-Ata, 1987. The protagonist of the film is 16-year-old Arsen, who moves from the suburbs to the city center and goes to a new school. At the new school, he makes friends with classmates who are active participants in the so-called "District Movements". Along with this, Arsen faces street, teenage hierarchy and violence. And before him there is a choice, to become like everyone else or to remain true to himself.

A drama about messed up athlete who tries to regain his career.

The picture reveals the problem of drug addiction in contemporary life. Drug addiction can be resisted by strong character young people while others lose everything: friends, love and life. Metiss is a talented rapper, who managed to overcome drug addiction, but paid high price for it losing the girl he loved. One day, he comes across Linda, a young woman whom he tries to save.

Four childhood friends decide to risk "dirty" money. When transferring money, the son of the mafia leader is killed. Who is the killer? The mafia hires a hunter killer who is trying to track down the fugitives and the missing money…

The film is about a brother and sister who struggle with life’s difficulties. Boys for the health of the mother do what they can. They do not choose the easy way and achieve everything honestly.

Provincial guy Yerlan is a 3rd—year student of one of the Almaty universities. He came to the city hoping to succeed in the future. However, the environment of the golden youth, where he got, turned out to be difficult. It has its own laws, its own rules, and in order to preserve its moral principles, many things will have to be relived and experienced.

Ex-con Kermek and his beloved Eva want to leave their crime-infested lives on the Kazakh steppes behind. He has a dream: building a movie theater in the mountains. Will Kermek's love of Alain Delon be strong enough to keep them out of the violent clutches of the mafia?

A lonely Russian man is trying to see his daughter, who lives with her mother far away in the USA.

Yerken is nine years old and lives alone in a remote village in the mountains. When his older brother returns after a long absence, the young boy’s heart leaps with joy. But it doesn’t last long, his older brother has become a cold and heartless person… Serik Aprymov was born in 1960 in Kazakhstan and studied film at the Moscow Film School (VGIK). Along with other young directors from his country, he became part of the “new wave” of Kazakh cinema. At the Locarno Film Festival in 2004, he presented Okhotnik (The Hunter), in which a young boy suffers the contrast between the traditions of his people now on the decline and the progress of an increasingly urbanized new society.

A modern parable about three brothers whom life has divided as they each went their separate ways. Of their happy childhood and adolescent years together, only a black-and-white photograph remains, capturing the three young men at a table in front of their family home, and memories of the greenhouse that was their father's pride.

A drama about formation of famous Kazakhstan boy band 'Ninety One'.

The father of the family, Nursultan Kopzhasarovich, respected in society, owns the entire farm in the village, so his only son Bolat grows up careless and spoiled, which more than once leads to problems and even criminal liability. At another drinking party, Bolat rapes a local school graduate. The father wanted to hush up the matter again, but the girl’s parents had already filed a statement with the police. The only way out of this situation is a wedding, but the life of the family turns into a real nightmare.

1997, Aman, an ordinary guy, an honest husband and a doctor. He tries to live honestly and be an example to others. Everything changes when he is unjustly kidnapped and sold into labor slavery.

Sayan has survived the accident but 10 years later the past comes after him.

Gaukhar has five overprotective brothers who don't let her marry anyone so she deals with the toughest decision in her life: family (brothers) or marriage?

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.

Events in the "Businessmen" unfold in the era of the 90's, when the country is experiencing an economic crisis. Heroes of the film are among the first who stood at the origins of market relations in Kazakhstan.

Gauhar gives birth to twins, but Aidar's doubts about fatherhood jeopardize their relationship.

Following an old nomadic tradition 'Bauryna Salu', a boy Yersultan, was given after his birth to be raised by his grandmother. He grew up with resentment and disconnection from his parents. When he turns twelve, his grandmother dies and he has to move back with his family which he barely knows. Yersultan's coming of age process coincides with an unbearable transformation and an attempt to restore the relationship between him and his parents, especially his father.

Ugly, illiterate and an uncommunicative “graduate” of the city orphanage, Nagima is a young woman whose life offers little potential for success or even happiness. Nagima rents a tiny room on the outskirts of the city of Almaty with her fellow orphanage “graduate” the pregnant, and equally isolated, Anya. In the midst of giving birth to her child, tragedy strikes and Anya dies. Never knowing her mother, the newborn girl must be submitted to the orphanage and so Nagima sees the vicious cycle of life in repetitious action and becomes severely depressed at the cruelty of life.

Akkyz (The White Girl) is a modern retelling of an ancient Kazakh legend about the creation of the world from the eggs of the Sacred White Swan. Nine-year old Aruzhan lives in harmony with nature on a deserted island, together with her mother and brother.

The family of repatriate Saparkul return to their historic homeland: cross the border post «Turkmenistan», enter the courtyard of the migration police, pass registration and other formalities - hand on his heart, listen to the anthem of Kazakhstan, wipe the tears of surging emotion, even the wife removes her veil. It is home to free women ... Then the road to the south of the country - to the station Tore-Tam. They will live there.

A well-functioning criminal scheme for theft and sale of mirrors fails when one of the thieves kills the car owner who has caught him. All the city's police forces are dispatched to capture the gang. But the main witness to the crime turns out to be familiar with the murderer and plunges herself into painful doubts, without betraying him. The girl is unaware that the other witness to the murder is the leader of the "Mirrors" gang.

Fifteen year old Mustafa has a nickname Schizo. He is hired by his mother’s boyfriend to find fighters for illegal fistfights. His life is changed forever when a young man mortally beaten in one of the fights asks Schizo to deliver his prize money to his girlfriend and young son. Schizo takes the money to the woman as promised and falls in love with her. Now he knows for whom he has to make money, no matter what the cost. In fistfights there are no rules… until blood is spilled!

Egemen, who makes a living by stealing scrap metal, has a secret lover, Meyerim. She was kidnapped, married, and then divorced with her daughter, so Egemen is unable to proudly introduce Meyerim to his family.

In the 16th century, during the Kazakh Khanate, Kasym Khan was the fourth ruler, often viewed as the greatest leader to unite the Kazakh tribes.

Aliya, a 36 year old Kazakh lesbian, has, for the first time in her life, tried to play the Green Card Lottery and won. Now she cannot decide whether to leave Kazakhstan or stay. On one hand, Aliya is tired of the stagnation, corruption, and dictatorship of the Kazakh society, she wants changes in her life. But on the other, she is afraid of uncertainty and to start all over again in a foreign country.

Once upon in a time in Taraz, a bunch of friends goes to night club and find themselves in a tricky situation after conflict with son of local mobster.

The main character, his wife and small son lose their way and become stuck on a country road. As a result, they have to spend the night in their car. The following morning, the main character awakens alone, his wife and son having mysteriously disappeared. His preliminary searches bring the hero to a small lonely house, in which an old man and a young woman live. It seems that these strange tenants know about him and his family but try to hide their knowledge. For what reason?

A story about the harsh times during colonization and famine of the 1930’s. The main character, gravedigger Isatai, played by Yerkebulan Dairov, will find himself faced by a hard choice that will predetermine the fate of his village.

A new mayor seeks the origins of a mysterious illness that is running rampant throughout a remote village.

The main morality is the chronic desire for rest Within the historians, filmmakers, astronomers and the bread Which once was dough front to back Relationship stops along the way You are not a wax-work in a glass Become the concept of freedom Freedom exists and must bring fruit The universe glancing for purchase reasoned

A family lives in a remote Kazakh village. There are five sons. The oldest, Aslan, becomes the father’s deputy in charge of all the work and delegating tasks to his younger brothers. Fair and humane, he sympathises with his siblings when they err, and accepts the father’s blame for them. One day Aslan takes the children to the river, a moment of happiness as the river is deep enough for a real swim. Since then, life is different. The children become more diligent in their daily chores, while the river turns into the focus of their lives.

Tolla is an unemployed translator whose wife is leaving him. Despondent and weak, he submits to the suggestion of an acquaintance to have a contract placed on the man that his wife is seeing. Instead, however, he arranges for the hit to be placed on himself. Before the contract is executed, he develops a relationship with a prostitute, and then changes his mind. In order to survive he takes the obvious course of action, which turns out to have possibly been unnecessary, and then he must deal with the guilt.

While the district administration prepares for the arrival of high-ranking guests, local alcoholic Sadyq Ospanovich solves intergalactic problems. Two large-scale events, developing simultaneously, lead to an inevitable conflict. The life-weary saleswoman Nadezhda and the naive policeman Baur find themselves between two fires.

This is the story of a young woman, Aiganym, who was born into the Orthodox Kazakh family from the South of Kazakhstan. When she was a student at the college in the capital city of Kazakhstan, she gave birth to a boy. Right after giving birth, her family cursed her and rejected her and her newborn son because she was a single mother. After seven years, Timur, her son, was not able to accomplish his homework assignment “to draw a family tree”. Aiganym decides to return to her parents’ house, so that her son has a big family. Regardless of the fact that each time, she wants to return, her eldest brother beats her up, she keeps on returning home again and again…

Seker is a girl who was raised as a son by a father who wanted his first child to be a boy as tradition in the countryside family demands. When Seker approaches the age of adolescence she faces a mandate from the local school: put on a dress or don't return. So finally gaining her father's permission she turns from a fist-fighting boy into a blossoming young girl.

Suddenly laid off from a factory staffed by deaf-mute people, Sveta’s house loan pushes her into a highly unethical line of work.

Selkeu Uashev is a local police officer at Karatas village. He’s not a man of high morals and can hardly be called a role model as a policeman. He turns a deaf ear to lots of criminal offences and takes bribes. For that he’s loved a lot by local criminals and frauds. But one day the commission arrives from the city to declare the big audit all over the village due to pandemic…

A Man of great talent. Misunderstood and censored genius. Loving caring father. Lonely fighter for freedom. Eagle of High Mountains. Lucky, but Ill-fated Poet, whom we never knew. Mukagali Makataev became recognized only after his death in 1976. Nowadays he is named as legendary poet of Kazakh literature.

For her job as an influencer, she wears orange and a broad smile. The “Happiness” brand is her doctrine, but her home is a dark place where brute force has ruled for years. This film shows us what it costs to escape the trap of misogyny.

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

Masked figures with machine guns march into the secondary school in Karatas, take the pupils hostage, and execute one of them. They make no demands. Silent terror is their modus operandi. Seeing as the army will take two days to arrive due to a snowstorm, maths teacher Tazshi decides to assemble his own assault team: his ex-wife, the gym teacher, the cowardly school principal, an alcoholic night watchman, the village idiot, and an incompetent chief of police.

A woman is led by her family to her new husband's home, to live with, presumably, his elderly mother and younger brother. Despite being forced into the marriage, she discovers that he is not such a bad catch after all but domestic bliss does not last long.

After her father's untimely death, Saltanat is forced to trade her idyllic countryside life for the cruel city. She has to find money to pay off the large family debt that her father left behind, in order to save her mother from jail. Friends since their village childhood, her loyal, but penniless admirer Kuandyk follows her just to make sure his sweetheart is safe. Saltanat's uncle introduces her to a possible groom, who promises to pay off her family's debts. But Saltanat's hopes are dashed, when she discovers that the men in this city don't keep their word. When Kuandyk tries to help Saltanat get the money through other ways, he ends up finding himself in more trouble than he bargained for. Although life keeps dealing them bad hands, Saltanat and Kuandyk never give up, no matter what the odds.

Any success story can never do without heavy falls, bitter partings and irresistibly difficult choices. But it’s not the ensemble’s success that makes the story insightful, but the difficult path that the guys had to go to achieve it. Concert bans, distrust of the party, problems with the institute, breath-taking popularity and, finally, the most difficult choice between science and art, will make the audience really worry about every step of the founders of Dos-Mukassan. A genuine, sincere friendship between the main characters of the story, which one day will be in jeopardy, will keep in suspense throughout the journey.

A new father could not be more happy about the birth of his first son...until he learns that the baby is not biologically his. In spite of everything, he raises the child as his own.

Vocal Parallels is a surreal, impressionistic concert of classical opera pieces performed by several retired Soviet opera divas: Roza Dzhamanova, Araksiia Davtian, Bibigul’ Tulegenova, and the late Erik Salim-Meriuert (Kurmangaliev), a fantastic countertenor.

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.

A revenge drama about protecting loved ones.

Orphaned by the brutal Soviet collectivization campaign of the 1930s, a young Kazakh boy takes to the mountains and lives amongst a pack of wolves.

A film about the feat of 17 soldiers of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (now the National Guard), who died on April 7, 1995 on the Tajik-Afghan border while protecting the external borders of the CIS.

Against the backdrop of a conflict between former friends, and now a soldier and a prisoner, events break out that will make them make a difficult choice. This choice changed the history and attitude to true heroism.

Indira decides to restart her life and move to London. However, on her last day, she dares to explore what she will leave behind.

After serving time for the murder of his sworn enemy, Sayan is released from prison. The son of the murdered man, who gave his word to destroy Sayan, is already waiting for him at liberty. The choice has been made, but what will be the outcome?

In a remote village on the Kazakh steppe, Mariam lives with her husband and four young children in a home without light or water. One winter day, her husband disappears. Without a body, he cannot be declared dead and Mariam is unable to receive state financial support. A very reserved person who buries her emotions, she must face survival of her family on her own in the harsh, rural winter. Inspired by actual events in Mariam's life, who portrays herself in a film that blurs documentary and drama as it paints her life's mundane details.

A young woman lives in a big weird and empty city. There is no other humans, no noise from the streets and no sounds of nature. The only one who shares her loneliness is her little daughter. They do everything together, draw, play and read fairy tales every night. But their perfect world drastically changes when they notice someone else’s presence.

Teenager Ruslan is a half-orphan who lives by the dried Aral Sea. When he learns that due to serious illness he has no more than 3 months to live, Ruslan decides to punish those responsible for the death of his beloved mother.