Joqtau(HKAFF2024)

After having left for years, Darkhan is returning to his hometown with his partner Elena. Upon the invitation of his grandfather Sagat, the young couple embarks on a trip to visit the ancestral village of the elder. In memory of his grandfather, Aruan Anartay’s documentary-like debut feature is a poetic meditation that explores the fissures in human relationships and the possibility of (re)connection between the new and old generations of Kazakhs, insiders and outsiders, as well as the living and the dead in the post-Soviet era of this nomadland.

Locarno Film Festival