2026 | Fiction | 84 min. | Kyrgyzstan
A young writer cannot publish his novel and survives on odd jobs. His girlfriend is pregnant and waiting for them to marry, but he struggles with money. Unexpectedly, the writer meets a man who has recently returned from abroad. The man commissions him to write a book about his life and offers a generous fee. The writer eagerly accepts, but the more stories he hears, the more parallels he discovers with his own life.
Directors Statement
My father’s absence shaped my childhood: I was told he lived in America, a place that became for me the “White Steamboat” of Aitmatov. Later I learned he had died. All my early films explored this wound, and Buiruk is the culmination of that reflection. Produced by Kyrgyzfilm, it consciously pays homage to the masters of Kyrgyz cinema, including Bolot Shamshiev. The film addresses a reality still urgent in our region: thousands of children of migrants grow up without parents nearby. It is a story of longing and acceptance, but also of the parent’s perspective — in a sense, the “return of the prodigal father.” In Kyrgyz, Buiruk means both “command” and “God’s will,” and the film moves between these two meanings.
Director: Dastan Madalbekov
Producers: Maksat Jumaev, Akjol Bekbolotov and Aida Usonova
Сast: Aziz Beishenaliev and Asan Kubanechbekov
Studio: Kyrgyzfilm
