The carpets are handmade, felted from wool and decorated with traditional ornaments – here in Kyrgyzstan, where director and screenwriter Maria Brendle tells the story of Sezim. And almost takes home the Oscar trophy for it.
How much we would have liked or disliked to see Will Smith smack Chris Rock in front of the whole audience. Swiss director Maria Brendle was there that evening in the Dolby Theatre, nominated for an Oscar with her short film “Ala Kachuu – Take and Run”. And found the flight from Zurich to Hollywood – if she could even believe it – probably not half as exciting as the filming in Kyrgyzstan. Maria Brendle and her film crew travel there to tell the story of a young woman: Sezim runs away from home to the capital Bishkek, where she applies for a scholarship and actually finds her feet quite quickly before she is abducted and forced into marriage. The path in a girl’s life is ultimately marriage – or not, but then you say goodbye to your family for good, ending up ostracized and cast out in many parts of the world that are possibly unknown to us. A destiny – inspired by many true events. Maria Brendle dedicates years of research and her ear to the Kyrgyz women. Not to point the finger at Kyrgyz culture with “Ala Kachuu”: The screenwriter depicts, plain and simple, a bride robbery realistically. And she probably thinks she is in the movie herself: “Ala Kachuu” is making a big impression on the big screen, at over 70 film festivals, and Maria Brendle – who is being showered with awards for it. Yes, yes. She probably wouldn’t have thought that when she was eating her sandwich on a bench somewhere during her time at Zurich University of the Arts. Although she already shone internationally with her graduation film, the journey then took her to Cologne. Then sometimes to Shanghai, sometimes to Jaipur, and recently she was on a plane to Los Angeles. And floated in memory of what was probably the most beautiful trip so far – the time in Kyrgyzstan. Oscar or no Oscar.
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