Kyrgyzstan / France,
1998, 81 min
Shown in 1999
CREDITS
- dir
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Aktan Abdikalikov
- prod
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Irizbaï Alibaev, Cedomir Kolar, Marc Bashet
- scr
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Aktan Abdikalikov, Avtandil Adikulov, Marat Sarulu
- cam
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Hassan Kidiraliev
- editor
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Tilek Mambetova
- cast
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Mirlan Abdikalikov, Albna Imasheva, Adir Abilkassimov, Bakit Dzhylkychiev, Mirlan Cinkozoev, Talai Mederov
- source
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Fox Lorber, 419 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. FAX: 212-545-9931.World Sales: Celluloid Dreams, 24, rue Lamartine, 75009 Paris, France. FAX: 33-1-49-70-03-71. EMAIL: celluloid@i-t.fr
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COMMENTS
Aktan Abdikalikov in person.
OTHER
In a Kyrgyz village, an ancient tradition is still practiced: The parents of a large family offer one newborn to a childless couple to raise as their own. The ritual is meant to bring luck to all, but for one boy, Azate, it has the opposite effect. It takes a village to be his unmaking. Ignorant of the secret of his birth, he is devastated when cruel neighbors drop this bombshell on him—and at a time when he can least handle it, at adolescence. Rites of adolescent sexual awakening are the same from the sandlot to the steppe, if movies are to be believed, but Azate and his cronies have concocted a few new ones (using sand, at that). Still, Azate is set off from the others: truth itself becomes his rite of passage. Director Aktan Abdikalikov is a man with composition (and possibly Bresson) on his mind. Beshkempir, his first feature, is constructed like the geometric textile in its opening sequence, of striking shots quilted together into an indigenous modern form. The acting is deliberately, almost unnaturally unforced—adults and children alike perform their love, gossip and devilment with a clear eye. When their emotions finally do flow freely, ours are caught off guard.
—Judy Bloch
FACTOID #336
Bing Crosby was invited several times for an onstage tribute at the Festival, reports then-director Claude Jarman, but declined the honor. “Nobody wants to see those little things that I used to do,” he modestly replied. He did attend though, with wife Kathy and their friend, Rita Hayworth.
