Shanghai International Film Festival 2026 | Amur Autumn Film Festival 2026 | Sao Paulo International Film Festival 2026
Grand Prix, Amur Autumn Film Festival 2026
Land disputes along the borders created after the collapse of the Soviet Union have long affected Central Asia. Skylark follows Aibek, a teenager living in a Kyrgyz village near the Tajik border. Raised by his grandmother Ene, he balances family life with the tensions surrounding their village. When Ene dies, Aibek tries to fulfil her final wish to be buried beside her husband. However, the cemetery is now in Tajikistan, across a newly drawn border. As Aibek faces this challenge, his personal struggles reflect the wider divisions in family, land and history.
A graduate in film from the University of Westminster, Narghiza Dotieva, a Kyrgyz filmmaker, is known for her acclaimed debut short, Blue Gate, which earned awards at the Sapporo Short Fest and Kyrgyzstan Land of Short Films and was screened at Raindance. As a director who blends deeply rooted Central Asian oral storytelling with contemporary cinematic form, Skylark, her first feature film, brings a rare and vital window into Kyrgyz independent cinema.
