The Light Thief
KYRGYZSTAN
|
2010
|
Color
|
80 min
This directory compiles the glossaries from all editions of Cines del Sur: eleven already held and the twelfth currently underway. It serves as a living memory of the festival, its films, guests, sections, and spaces for reflection on the cinemas of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Arab world. Here you can trace the evolution of its programming, rediscover filmmakers, and follow the thematic threads that have defined Cines del Sur's identity as a meeting point for cultures, perspectives, and ways of understanding cinema from the Global South.
Svet-ake (Mr. Light) is an electrician tasked with bringing more than just light to the people around him. Like a moth to a flame, everyone is drawn to his generosity: those suffering from power outages, those who hold power in the city, and those who have lost their zest for life. He helps everyone and is everywhere. He doesn't hesitate to bend the rules, rewinding an old electricity meter for a lonely elderly pensioner so that the pensioner stops owing money to the state, and instead, the state owes him. Svet-ake has only two dreams: to have a child someday and to provide cheaper energy to people through wind power. Svet-ake symbolizes resistance against a madness full of darkness. He, who brings light, is also capable of taking it away, leaving the dark in darkness. In the country's climate of economic devastation, the only light that continues to shine is the flickering flame of a very delicate hope.
Technical Details
Direction:
Aktan Arym Kubat
Cinematography:
Hassan Kydyraliyev
Music:
Andre Matthias
Language:
Kyrgyz
Production:
Altynai Koichumanova, Cedomir Kolar, Thanassis Karathanos, Marc Baschet, Karl Baumgartner, Denis Vaslin
Art Direction:
Talgat Asyrankulov
Sound:
Bakyt Niyazaliev
Subtitles:
English and Spanish
Screenplay:
Aktan Arym Kubat, Talip Ibraimov
Editing:
Petar Markovic
Cast:
Aktan Arym Kubat (Svet-ake); Taalaikan Abazova (Bermet),Askat Sulaimanov (Bekzat), Asan Amanov (Esen), Stanbek Toichubaev (Mansur)
Director
Aktan Arym Kubat
Born in Kuntuu, in present-day Kyrgyzstan, in 1957. In 1980, he graduated from art school and immediately began working as an art director at Kirghizfilm, where he collaborated on various fiction films. In 1990, he directed his first documentary short film: The Dog that ran. Three years later, his medium-length film The Swing won the First Prize at the Potsdam Festival. With his first fiction film, The Adopted Son, he won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival. He has also directed social awareness commercials, which earned him the Grand Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival. In 2001, he directed his second feature film, The Chimp, which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. With The Light Thief, he returns to directing after a nine-year absence.
