Awards: Locarno International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Eurasia International Film Festival.
In this colorful modern-day parable of good and evil, a man who is guilty of minor corruption for benevolent reasons comes up against a man deep in major corruption for his own profit. Svet-ake is a good-hearted family man who works for the electric company in a small Kyrgyz village. A number of folks in Svet-ake's neighborhood are seniors on a fixed income, and he helps them out by adjusting their meters on the sly to keep their bills low. Bezkat is a powerful but corrupt politician from the city who wants to make a quick windfall by selling part of Svet-ake's village to a Chinese firm. Played with wry humanity by writer-director Aktan Arym Kubat, the trusting Mr. Light strikes a suspect bargain with that rich developer running for local office, as unemployment threatens the survival of the community. This comedy-drama develops into affecting tale of solidarity and ordinary decency amid the injustices and hardships of a changing world.
Running time: 80 min. In Kyrgyz with English subtitles.
The screening will take place at SRH on Saturday September 28, at 5pm. It will be introduced and commented on by Alma Kunanbaeva.
Silk Road House, 1944 University Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 (between Milvia & Martin Luther King; enter by side door in passageway under black Zabu Zabu awning); e-mail: silkroadhouse@yahoo.com; website: www.silkroadhouse.org; facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SilkRoadHouse; tel.: 510-981-0700.
Silk Road House events are sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation.
