Abel

Pitch

On the turbulent scene of post-Soviet Kazakhstan in 1993, the collective farms are being dismantled and the properties are to be privatized. No one believes that the property will be fairly shared out; the leaders have long exceeded their official powers, dividing the sheep amongst themselves. This leaves the shepherd, who would just like to receive his rightful share, at a dead end. A resilient farmer, whose modest dream is to secure what is rightfully his, has to face his personal struggles. Should he yield to corruption or fight for what is fair?

"I have always been concerned with ordinary people's fate during great historic events and periods of change. What matters most to me is their current social status, their psychological state, their attitude toward these events, whether they hold political opinions or not, their personal points of view, their dreams, their goals - in short, their lives as a whole... The film focuses on a profoundly tragic theme : the cruellest way to treat somebody - people's sense of self-worth being damaged by society after having devoted all their energy and adult life to it." Elzat Eskendir