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.

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.

Abu Raykhan Biruni

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

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 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

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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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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"...

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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...

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.

American Hardcore

Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

AKA Tommy Chong

Documentary about Tommy Chong's federal prosecution under the Bush administration for selling bongs over the Internet.

The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce

Eight men escape from the most isolated prison on earth. Only one man survives and the story he recounts shocks the British establishment to the core. This story is the last confession of Alexander Pearce.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment and exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence.

Aftermath: Population Zero

Aftermath: Population Zero investigates what would happen if every single person on Earth simply disappeared. Explore the interactive world without us.

Making of Amour

The Making of Amour

Cats of Malta

A documentary celebrating the island’s stray cats and the volunteers who show the large population unconditional love and support.

The Wire

The inhabitants of the canyon of river Kupa, located on the border between Croatia and Slovenia, have historically been united due to their harsh living conditions, but this peaceful cohabitation between members of different cultures is threatened by the construction of iron fences to prevent the transit of refugees from Bosnia.

Venus: Death of a Planet

Billions of years ago, Venus may have harbored life-giving habitats similar to those on the early Earth. Today, Earth's twin is a planet knocked upside down and turned inside out. Its burned-out surface is a global fossil of volcanic destruction, shrouded in a dense, toxic atmosphere. Scientists are now unveiling daring new strategies to search for clues from a time when the planet was alive.

The Wimbledon Kidnapping

Exploring the mysterious disappearance of Muriel McKay, the UK's first kidnapping case and one of the most infamous cases of mistaken identity.

Spirits' Homecoming, Unfinished Story

"Spirits' Homecoming, Unfinished Story" is part dramatization and part documentary. The film contains scenes from the movie “Spirits’ Homecoming” and testimonials by comfort women who were enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

The Reservoir Game

An investigative reporter seeks to expose the whereabouts of a slush fund belonging to the former president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak.

Who Shot Biggie & Tupac

An investigative crime special examining two of the greatest murder mysteries in pop culture history, digging deep into the entangled murders of hip-hop’s most legendary adversaries – rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.