Shyrakshy: Guardian of the Light(HKAFF 2019)

Writer-director Yermek Tursunov’s Shyrakshy: Guardian of the Light doesn’t defend the galaxy – he spreads celluloid magic. At the end of WWII, a Kazakh soldier saves a German civilian, who gives him a portable projector and some film prints as thanks. For the next 30 years, the soldier stalwartly travels the countryside, showing films in one remote village after another, even as the march of time and modern theaters begin to catch up. He becomes the legendary Tarzan, as the kids call him, who adds his own story to the films. This warm, sentimental and spirited ode to cinema makes you laugh, cry and remember what made you fall in love with the movies.