Set in 1930s Kazakhstan, during the brutal Soviet famine that claimed over 1.5 million lives, this grim feature debut from Aisultan Seitov is part historical drama, part surrealist nightmare. Gravedigger Isatai is tasked with delivering a message to a distant town to help his starving village. Along with his younger brother Alim, Isatai treks across the parched steppe, encountering terrifying emptiness, even greater hunger, and mysterious hallucinations portending madness and death. Seitov won Best Director in the Asian New Talent section of the 25th Shanghai Film Festival for this aesthetically-stunning journey into darkness.