"Backstage Madness": National premiere in Kyrgyzstan and beginning release

 Date of National premiere in Kyrgyzstan: 05.05.2026

 Place: Ala-Too cinema, Bishkek 

 Start of the release: 07.05.2026

“Backstage Madness”, Kyrgyzstan, 2025, 1’20

Genre: Black comedy

Screenwriter & director: Amanbek Azhymat

DoP: Bekzat Turatbek uulu

Composer & sound: Alymbek Tursunbaev

Producer: Asel Zhuraeva

Production: Tazar

Cast: Bolot Tilebaldiev, Kural Chokoev, Erbol Ruslanov, Adyl Bolotbek, Nazira Jetigenova etc.

World premiere: Black Nights Film Festival, Tallinn, Estonia, 2025 (First Feature Competition)

A 70-year-young nameless Director still invents various vivid and bizarre characters on an old-fashioned typewriter. This respected veteran knows a thing or two about tenderness and aesthetics. He has heard the word ‘stop’ far too many times while preparing an arthouse festival gem. The fledgling producer orders his uncle to write something entirely different, involving all keen investors in sold-out, influential roles.

The film's fragmented structure sparks humorous anecdotes from behind the scenes. The much younger debutant, Amanbek Azhymat, playfully experiments, surprises and blends genres. He stages a choreographed musical and reverses the usual image of patriarchal Kyrgyzstan. Mighty women are given the chance to beat their violent partners with heavy objects. Ruthless gangsters are punished by the mafia of organ resellers. A corrupt, disgraced society is the target of a Hollywood-style parody, and everyone wants to open a mysterious briefcase.

Such immensely funny, action-driven fantasy is rarely seen in Central Asian films. A snappily edited, dynamic kaleidoscope of shootouts, fights, dances and kinkiness brings to mind the work of Adilkhan Yerzhanov.

Edvinas Pukšta