(GORNYI LUK)
MOUNTAIN ONION
Comedy and Drama | Running Time: 90 minutes
2022 / Russian, Kazakh and Mandarin
Country: Kazakhstan
Directed by: Eldar Shibanov
MENA Premiere
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A writer and director. In 2010, he co-founded a family production company and started directing films. Together with his mother, Yuliya Levitskaya, and brother, Dias Shibanov, Eldar creates films about the absurdity of everyday life. His short “Sex, Fear and Hamburgers” (2018) was screened at Venice Film Festival.
ProducerYuliya Levitskaya
CastEsil Amantay, Amina Gaziyeva, Zhazira Kaskey, Kuantay Abdimadi, Laura Tursunkanova, Sanjar Madi
Scriptwriter
Jabai, aged 11, lives with his family in a small village in Kazakhstan. His father is possibly the most eco-conscious petrol station owner in Kazakhstan; Jabai helps out by selling mountain onions along the highway. It has never occurred to him that his parents could be anything but happy until he catches a glimpse of his mother fornicating with a truck driver, a man he has always regarded as a hero. This is an unacceptable situation; Jabai resolves to fix it. With his little sister Saniya, he sets out for a remote corner of China to obtain what he has heard is the only thing that will help his father regain his rightful position as the man of the family, the so-called “golden Viagra”. Full of popping colour, Eldar Shibanov’s first feature – inspired by his own parents’ divorce and sponsored by the Biennale College in Venice – is touching, funny, visually appealing and altogether adorable.