The Wedding Chest

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, Kirghizia, France, Germany, 2006, 104 min
IP – International premiere
Section: East of the West - Films in Competition

Synopsis

Ajdar, originally from a Kirghiz ail near lake Issyk-kul, has been working in Paris for years, where he now lives with his attractive French girlfriend Isabelle. After repeated requests from his family to come and visit, he sets off with her for his native country, however, he has no idea of the difficulties which lie ahead. While he has become a European, his relatives and neighbours uphold a traditional way of life. They anticipate that Ajdar, too, continues to respect this life, while his mother thinks it’s time he got married. She has already prepared a wedding chest, a trousseau with gifts, for his prospective bride. Thus Ajdar passes off the innocent Isabelle merely as a female friend. Isabelle, relying solely on his translation, unwittingly assumes the role assigned to her. Bewitched by the beauty of this exotic environment and the landscape, she is quite unaware of the depths of Ajdar’s dilemma. But the moment is approaching when both of them will have to resolve the tough issue of their national and cultural identity and weigh up the value of their mutual rewards and losses.

About the director

Nurbek Egen (b. 1975, Osh region, Kirghizia) graduated from the Institute of Art in Bishkek and subsequently studied direction at VGIK (1999). After his college film One Day Older (Na dyen starshe, 1997) and his degree film Closed Space (Zakryty kosmos, 1999), he made the documentary Sanzhyra (2001 – screened in competition at the KV IFF). He then directed a number of TV series: The Late Supper (Pozdny uzhin, 2001–02), Villises. Brides (Villisy. Nyevesty, 2002), Secret Sign 2. The Master’s Return (Tayny znak 2. Vozvrashcheniye khozyayina, 2003). The coproduction film The Wedding Chest  is his feature debut. He is currently filming the TV series The Network (Set).