Erkin Saliev

An amnesiac old man Zarlyk who after twenty-three years of ordeal in a foreign land, returns to his homeland. Events take place in a village in Kyrgyzstan, where he is brought by his matured son Kubat. Much has changed during his absence: the morals of the villagers, mired in the realities of a changing world, radicalization of Islam, growing crime, and moral corrosive corruption began to consume... Zarlyk’s wife Umsunai, having lost hope of his return, went into religion, married the local authority Jaichy. The bright past invades the already accustomed Umsunai’s life. But nothing touches Zarlyk. An inexplicable passion for collecting garbage replaced him everything. Will the memory return to him and will Umsunai gain lost happiness when they are pressed by tight attitudes and immorality of the clergy, when love has eclipsed recklessness?

A small village is situated on the picturesque shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. Nazik, a 7 year old girl, lives there with her mother Rumiya, a young and bold beauty. Rumiya works at a trout farm. After the collapse of the Soviet empire everyone struggles to survive in this remote mountainous region, where the “world financial crisis” means little to the locals. Only Nazik continues to live in her own make-believe world of fairy-tale, which is reflected in her drawings.