The Taste of Koumiz

In the 1930s, the Soviet Union began the massive collectivization of its lands. Khirgiz nomads, whose culture depended upon rearing horses, were forced to join the collective farms - the kolkhozes. Those who resisted had their herds confiscated and were then deported to work camps. "The Taste of Koumiz" tells the story of one man who grew up as a nomad until his father, the head of his clan, was arrested and deported. While he was still an adolescent, an aunt who lived in the city took him in. From this point on, alienated from his past and from his nomad culture, he constructs a new life. But The Taste of Koumiz is first and foremost poetry that recalls the aesthetic universe of Alexander SOKOUROV. The story is told from the narrator's point of view, a nomad who wanders through his own thoughts with grace and powerful, evocative imagery.