THE HORSE THIEVES. ROADS OF TIME, 2019
Feature film, 84 min, Kazakhstan / Japan
Directors: Yerlan Nurmukhambetov, Lisa Takeba
Production: Kazakhfilm, Tokyo New Cinema
Music: Akmaral Mergen (credited as Akmaral Zykayeva)
Opening film, 24th Busan International Film Festival (2019)
Nominated, Best Composer, Tulpar National Film Awards (2024)
One morning, a man who loves his family very much goes to a town market to sell his horse with the other villagers. After exchanging affectionate glances with his wife, and leaving his 10-year-old son and two daughters still in a deep sleep, the man goes to the market and is killed by horse thieves, holding a kitten in his arms for his kids. With the help of the villagers, the wife holds the mans funeral and decides to return to her family with her kids. Then, another man who left her 8 years ago without leaving any notes appears to help the woman move. Somehow, the son of the wife resembles the man and learns to ride a horse from him. One day, they go out on horseback together and bump into the horse thieves.