Snow Leopard Competition
Abel
Kazakhstan’s Submission for the 99th Academy Awards®
120 min | Drama | 2024 | Kazakhstan | Kazakh | English Subs
Schedule
Nov 14, 2026 @ 06:40 PM
Synopsis:
Almaty Region, 1993. As the Soviet Union collapses and the old state farms are privatized, Abel, a shepherd who has tended the collective’s flocks for forty years, is left with almost nothing, while the new bosses and their allies divide up the livestock and land among themselves. Proud and stubborn, Abel refuses to give in, even as drinking, old grudges and injustice tear at his family and the village around him. When tragedy strikes, he must decide what he is still willing to fight for. A quiet, unsentimental drama about dignity and a way of life disappearing along with an empire.
Director
Elzat Eskendir
Elzat Eskendir was born in 1987 in southern Kazakhstan. He studied philology at the Kazakh State University and film directing at the Almaty Academy of Arts. He worked for several years as an editor and screenwriter at the Kazakh Film national film studio. In 2016, his first short film Off Season was selected in the Wide Angle section dedicated to Asian short films at the Busan International Film Festival and won the Sonje Award. Abel is his first feature film.
Credits
Director:
Elzat Eskendir
Producer:
Serik Abishev
Sergey Azimov
Yerlan Bekkozhin
Cinematography:
Jolanta Dylewska
Editing:
Elzat Eskendir
Yerlan Toleutay
Nurzhan Beksultanova
Kaisar Deputat
Inzhu Abdibek
Alikhan Lepesbay
Ulan Nusipali
Cast:
Screenwriters:
Elzat Eskendir
Yerlan Tuleutay
Music:
Akmaral Mergen
