Nagima

Nagima is a withdrawn eighteen-year-old eking out her existence in a tiny room on the outskirts of Almaty. She adopts a fatalistic attitude towards everything fate has thrown at her. Her only kindred spirit is her similar-aged flatmate Anya, now nine months pregnant. Nagima takes the bus each day to her appallingly paid restaurant job and, with her pittance of a wage and kitchen leftovers, she tries to keep herself and her friend above the poverty line. There is very little chance that the two abandoned girls can expect a better future for themselves.... In this, her fifth feature, the experienced Kazakh director and producer underlines the difficult situation of single women in Kazakhstan, a society controlled largely by men. Using minimal dialogue and vivid, inhospitable locations, Issabayeva unfolds a strong, lyrical story of a desperate desire for love and social acceptance. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)