Tales from the Road | Exploring Kyrgyzstan & Uzbekistan (2025)

I Lit the Fire!

The plot of the movie brings two people together - an immigrant filmmaker from Belarus and a 10 years old girl from the village in the south of Kyrgyzstan.

Abu Raykhan Biruni

A biographical film about one of the greatest Medieval scientists and scholars, Al-Biruni.

We're Going the Same Way

At the non-places of this world lie the struggles of nobodies, to improve, overcome and survive. Their struggles suffocate them, they forget to live. They dislocate them, bring them together and pull them apart. Father and son share simple dreams and a lifetime on the road. Along an unromantic Silk Route they try to make some come true. Searching for a more livable future they break apart. As working class heroes they accept their fate. The film examines the added value of honesty in our actions.

The Road From Karakol

In the summer of 2011, mountaineer Kyle Dempster traveled the back roads of Kyrgyzstan on his bike. His goal: cross the country using old Soviet roads while climbing as many of the region's impressive peaks as possible. He was alone. He carried only a minimal ration of climbing gear. Ten Kyrgyz words complete its vocabulary. Part meditation on the true spirit of adventure and part epic travelogue, The Road from Karakol is the story of a unique spirit who cycled to the end of the road and decided to keep going.

Kirgistan - Hochgebirgsland voller Schätze

Plot unavailable

Wings of Kyrgyzstan

As „wings of men“ they became the faithful companion of a great nomadic nation thousands of years ago. Today, 28 years after the Soviet occupation, the little horse is an essential part of the cultural heritage and the search for identity of the modern Kyrgyz people. Based on its own story, a so called „good brown horse“ leads through the film and offers an insight of what it could mean to be „todays wings of men“. Told by a horse’s voice and through its eyes, this short film still is a documentary, but also a poetic journey to a nomadic culture.

The Amazing Country of Kyrgyzstan

You will discover a mysterious world where monuments of the great civilizations of the past intertwined with the corners of unspoiled nature, you will conquer the highest peaks and fantastic caves, you will dive into the refreshing coolness of emerald lakes and living fairy tale medieval east. The roar of wind and the murmur of flowing mountain streams complement the playing of the Kyrgyz music, taking you in the wonderful world - Kyrgyzstan. Travel Documentary hosted by Vitaliy Podstrechniy and Yulia Podstrechnaya

Berlin - Akkurgan

The plot of the film tells about the events of the war era, where the stories of ordinary people are intertwined. The characters were Stalin, Hitler, Churchill, Hess, Ribbentrop, Molotov and Uzbek heroes. The film shows the role of government leaders in the country's domestic and foreign policy, and how their decisions affected the fate of ordinary people.

The Song of the Tree

Esen, a young man who has been expelled from his village, escapes with the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the village. Whilst being pursued, he is forced to fight for her hand in a battle that results in the destruction of a sacred totem tree. This puts the whole village in jeopardy, and it is up to Esen to redeem himself and save them all.

Wedding Campaign

A 38-year-old single man, Hong Man-Taek is a petty farmer still living with his mother. Seeing a neighbor married to an Uzbekistan bride and frightened by the fact that his own grandson will never get married, Man-Taek's grandfather decides to send Man-tek to Uzbekistan to find a bride.

Dogs of Bishkek

The story is about a boy named Sasha who, on a journey to get his sick mother sausages, get stalked and chased by the ruthless monster dog of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan during a cold, foggy winter day. Will Sasha survive and make his way back to his apartment?

In Love

A subtle lyrical story about youth, the search for truth, the first painful experiences of love. The film features three heroes who live in Tashkent. Rodin — a kind and whole man — finds it difficult to live with a girl who doesn't love him, and he himself saves her from the need to lie and suffer... Rustam's life is different. He is loving, talented... The third hero Thassos — a Greek by birth — returns to his homeland, where his mother and sister were found, but there flashed a junta of "grey colonels"...

How to Marry Gu Jun-pyo?

K-drama-obsessed student Aliya is in love with the Korean actor Lee Min-ho, whom she often refers to as Gu Jun-pyo (his most popular K-drama character). Her nemesis, Aizhan, challenges her to fly to South Korea and even marry him before the end of the semester, or Aliya will have to drop out of the university. However, a cute emo boy stands in her way...

Women's Paradise

In Women’s Paradise, a college professor and writer is separated from his wife after committing adultery and discovers a women’s paradise where his lover, a female student, and his wife are living happily together. Could this truly be paradise or just the projection of a male fantasy?

Tenderness

This is a story about modern youth, about how young people enters the great beautiful world of complex human relations, how, when faced with different people and phenomena, boys and girls are convinced that good and bright are affirmed in life.

To the Ends of the Earth

A young Japanese woman named Yoko finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show.

Dzhura

The end of the 1920s — the beginning of the 1930s in Kyrgyzstan. Parts of the Red Army are waging an uncompromising struggle with basmachi in Central Asia. The film tells about the formation of the character of the young Kyrgyz hunter Djura, who found himself in a swirling whirlpool of revolutionary events that swept the Pamirs. It shows the hard way from a simple young hunter, entangled in centuries of prejudice, to a conscious, seasoned in many battles with the Basmachi mature fighter, who believed in the great ideas of the revolution.

Dzhamilya

In a remote Kyrgyz village, Dzhamilya follows her parents' orders when she marries a man without loving him. Then World War II breaks out and her new husband has to leave the village. While being alone, Dzhamiliya meets the returning soldier Daniyar and falls in love with him instead. Years later, their young friend Seid reminisces about the couple.

Kurak

Based on true events, several stories about disempowerment of women, are closely intertwined, affecting to each other's, unfolding against the background of the traditional, patriarchal society of modern-day Kyrgyzstan ultimately result in a series of tragic outcomes. The realities of modern-day Kyrgyzstan, despite the status of a "secular state", are violence, hypocrisy, and widespread infringement of the rights of women who are stay a socially unprotected part of the population. Under the conditions of aggressive propaganda of both patriarchal and radical, religious ideology, the ideas of feminism in Kyrgyzstan are equated with the popularization of LGBTQ communities, are openly criticized and the justice system, in most cases, takes the side of murderers and rapists.

Centaur

Centaur lives a modest life with his family in rural Kyrgyzstan until he abruptly becomes the center of attention when he is caught stealing a racehorse at night. A story inspired by the myth when horses became the wings of men.

Sanzhyra

Lyrical tragicomedy. The eyes of the young hero, who will go through the rite of circumcision, shows the life of a Kyrgyz village on a holiday day.

Eagle Hunter's Son

Twelve-year-old Bazarbai is unlike other Nomad boys his age. He dreams of leaving behind the green pastures of his native Western Mongolian province, lured instead by the call of the urban jungle: Ulan Bator. But Bazarbai's father has his own aspirations: One day, the young boy will make him proud by following the famed eagle hunter's own footsteps. When Bazarbai's brother, Khan, is forced to leave home for Ulan Bator, Bazarbai feels deeply hurt and betrayed; he should have been the one sent into the big city. In an attempt to cheer him up, Bazarbai's father takes him to the great Eagle Festival; but the young boy is inconsolable.

Tashkent, City of Bread

Beautifully shot in black and white, and scripted by Tarkovsky's collaborator Andrei Konchalovsky, this powerful melodrama tells the story of a young boy who undertakes the perilous journey to Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent, to earn some money for his hungry family. Filming in the periphery of the Soviet Union, in a time of relative political relaxation, director Shukhrat Abbasov actually dared to depict the poverty and famine that resulted from the Bolshevik Revolution.

The Seventh Bullet

Despite the restoration of Soviet power in the area, Basmachis continue to arrive from across the border, bringing death and destruction to peaceful villages. One of the bands of rebels is led by Khairulla who is pitted against the militsiya (local militia) leader Maxumov. At first it seems hopeless for Maxumov as the rebels capture most of his men, winning them over to his side. He has only one strategy left; to give himself up, and try to explain to the people that Khairulla has deceived them, turning the soldiers back to revolution. Later in pursuit of his enemy, he chases Khairulla across a river. He has only one bullet left -- the seventh, and he must not miss his target!

101 Flight

In the early morning of September 11, 2001, a Boeing 757 aircraft belonging to Uzbekistan Airways takes off from the Uzbek capital Tashkent. This is the final flight of experienced pilot Zarif Saidazimov prior to retirement. 101-Flight is in transit through London Birmingham International Airport to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Die Uneinsichtigen - Aids-Aktivismus in Frankfurt

A documentary that explores AIDS activism in Frankfurt, focusing on activists, affected individuals, and organizations fighting the epidemic, raising awareness, and advocating for policy changes. Directors Lou Deinhart, Evi Rohde, and Zoë Struif incorporate 1980s/90s theatre productions, news footage, and protest recordings into their research. Alternating between present-day encounters and historical media, they interview numerous witnesses, constructing a collage of diverse memories rather than a single narrative, highlighting grassroots movements' struggles, solidarity, and impact.

Valdivia 1960, El Gran Terremoto

Plot unavailable

El Gringo Eskiador

In June 1978, Patrick Vallençant made the first ski descent of the southeast face of Artesonjaru in Peru, in the Cordillera Blanca, 6,000 meters above sea level and 60° of slope. He left Huaraz on horseback, a donkey carrying his equipment. While crossing Cajas, the last village on the trail to Lake Paron, he was greeted by Victor and Cesar, two Indians who accompanied him to the lake. The climb to the summit was tiring, requiring as much effort from his arms as from his legs. The beginning of the descent was hesitant, the slope extremely steep. He achieved his feat on June 9, his thirty-second birthday.

Papick, L'Enfant Du Mont Blanc

Eleven-year-old Papik (nickname for Yannick Vallençant) dreams of climbing Mont Blanc with his father, Patrick Vallençant. After serious training, the adventure begins: they set off from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, climb the ridge of the three Mont Blancs, bivouac at the Col de la Brenva, cross the Mur de la Côte and reach the summit of Mont Blanc. No child his age had ever before achieved this feat by this route.

The Wintering Grounds

When the rivers freeze, world class freestyle kayakers find their way to a special spot on the Chattahoochee River. Squatting in an abandoned parking lot, they spend the winter training for the next world championships on North America’s best winter whitewater.

Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover

Compulsive Twitterer, Elon Musk bought himself his favorite social network in 2022, and brutally shaped it according to his desires. This punchy investigation relates the stormy relations between the platform and the billionaire, and their impact on the public debate.

From Island to Island

During World War II, Taiwan was part of the Japanese Empire. This documentary explores the experiences of Taiwanese soldiers, doctors, and overseas residents in Southeast Asia during that time. Using cross-generational memory dialogues, family letters, diaries, and videos, the film addresses the complexities of Taiwan's historical memory and diverse identities during that period.

Sander's Documentary

Stand-up comedy seems like an easy thing to do - you get on stage, tell funny stories for an hour and also swear a little. Sander Õigus has been doing stand-up for over ten years, let's see how the truth becomes the truth and a joke becomes a joke.

The Endless Summer

Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.

After Landing

Jorge and Jeczebel left their four children behind in Venezuela, for what they hoped would be a better life in America. They didn’t expect a bus would bring them from Texas to New York. They also didn’t expect to encounter a city overwhelmed by one of the largest humanitarian crises in its history. The film explores the migrant experience from a deeply personal perspective as they struggle to live in the US and to support their children back home.

Land Without Bread

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Gimme Shelter

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Primary

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.

Dont Look Back

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.