Kazakhstani short to premier at Cannes

Once again a Kazakhstani made film hits the screen of the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s The Owners premiered during the Special Screenings at the Cannes. This time around, a short Luna Lyubit Solnce (The Moon Loves the Sun) by a Kazakh filmmaker Alisher Suleimenov will premier during the Short Film Corner of the 68th edition of the film festival, Tengrinews reports.

The 2015 edition of one of the major film events opens from May 13 to 24.

Suleimenov’s short competed with over 2 thousand films from 100 countries for a chance to be presented at the Cannes. This year, the festival does not feature films made by amateurs.

Luna Lyubit Solnce (The Moon Loves the Sun) is a sequel of Suleimenov’s first film Ptitsa (A Bird) released in 1990. The film was awarded at the International Film Festival Molodost in Kiev and won festivals in Moscow and Tashkent.

Suleimenov’s short features Bakhyt Zhangaliev, an actor and stuntman Bakhodyr Dzhalmetov as well as young actors Bakhtiyar Tursunov and Marina Klimovich. An actress Zulfira Gurairova and a journalist Yerzhan Suleimenov, too, took part in the film. The filmmaker wrote the music to the film himself.

The short, according to Suleimenov, is the first of the series that will consist of 10 films about goodness and love.

The film was made thanks to donations.

“I believe that growth of cinematography in Kazakhstan is just around the corner. Amazing young talents strongly devoted to art are emerging. The screening of a Kazakhstani film at the Cannes is proof of the fact that peace, goodness and grace are sought after by all the people regardless of the borders dividing them,” Suleimenov said.

By Gyuzel Kamalova