Sagizbai Karabalin

Kazakhstan, January 2022. Protests are shaking the entire country. Five ordinary people become caught up in these events and face difficult life choices. Their stories come together, showing how one person’s drama turns into a national tragedy.

An explosion in the subway takes Rasul's life, leaving his family grieving for his son for 15 long years. However, on Memorial Day, Rasul returns home. The family is shocked - the joy of reunion is mixed with the bitterness of the question “Where have you been all this time?”. Rasul is evading the question, and each member of his family has their own assumptions about this.

Enlik is a student who comes to Almaty to pursue her studies. In order to support her family, she gives up on her dream and starts looking for a job. After an accidental incident, she is expelled from the university and hides the truth from her mother. That same night, she meets Arman, a young man who has chosen the path of a musician. As they work together, they gradually grow closer, and their friendship turns into love. However, the big city puts their dreams and feelings to the test, forcing them to make an important choice.

Windy steppes of Kazakhstan. Starving people ravenously eat donkeys and their weaker comrades. Frantic, raw, gripping, and cannibalistic western inspired by testimonies of the historical Great Famine of the 1930s. Ruthless Jupar with her two boys Jolan and Boshay runs for survival to reach her childhood village with hopes to find living relatives. A mother with no tears to cry endures rains, sandstorms, feverish famine, poisoned crops, hungry vultures, rotten meat, and greedy betrayals. Jupar will have to steal, cut throats, and protect her and others’ children to witness fates worse than death.

The plot centers on two competing production centers. One is led by an angel, the other by a demon. Each of them fights for worldly souls, using the potential of creative people. The first is guided by the principle of self–improvement, the second by momentary profit.