Light Thief, The

Kyrgyzstan’s official submission to the 2010 Academy Awards.

In this colorful modern-day parable of good and evil, a humble village electrician devotes his compassion and ingenuity to destitute neighbors in a wind-swept valley of Kyrgyzstan. Played with wry humanity by writer-director Aktan Arym Kubat, the trusting Mr. Light strikes a suspect bargain with a rich developer running for local office, as unemployment threatens the survival of the community. Stoking a dream to supply wind-generated electricity to the whole valley, the modest visionary comes up against an increasingly dark cloud of corruption in this affecting tale of solidarity and ordinary decency amid the injustices and hardships of a changing world.

Director Aktan Arym Kubat was born in 1957 in Kyrgyzstan. He graduated from the Art Academy in Bishkek and started working as a production designer in the 1980s. His second feature film, The Swing, won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1993, which was followed by The Adopted Son, which won the Silver Leopard at the same festival in 1998. In 2001, he was nominated for the European Film Academy (EFA) Discovery Award. The Light Thief is his fifth feature film.

Print Source: Global Film Initiative, Jeremy Quist, jeremy@globalfilm.org