Kazakh film ‘The Rat’ gains international recognition

Kazakh films are winning awards in prestigious global competitions. ‘The Rat’ directed by Zhantemir Baimukhamedov was recognized as the best at four international film festivals. Just recently, it won the Grand Prix of the 60th-anniversary short film competition in Malta. ‘The Rat’ competed with 320 other movies from more than 60 countries. In addition, the film received the main prize at the forum in Brazil. Other awards have been won in Scotland, Macau and Russia.

“What is so fascinating about this film? Probably, for the European viewer, our country is a terra incognita - an unfamiliar land. However, as you know, humanism is very much appreciated in Europe. In that film the notion of humanism is ubiquitous. And as the protagonist of this film said, «People have never treated me the way they treat rats». So I think people all over the world were very excited about the film. Clearly, they enjoyed it very much,” said the filmmaker, Zhantemir Baimukhamedov.

It is about the friendship between a man and a rat. The film is based on a real story that took place in the 1980s. According to the author, he’s been thinking about making a film on this topic for a while.

“The fact is that in the 80s the ‘Leninskaya Smena’ newspaper published an article about a person who discovered a rat in his apartment, and some very surprising things started happening.  This movie is starring a real rat. This is our main character, Lucy. A wonderful, beautiful animal who did a great job,” Baimukhamedov added.

It is worth noting that currently the Kazakh filmmaker is engaged in the production of a comedy web series. Negotiations are also under way for the production of another film in Spain. Zhantemir Baimukhamedov is going to act as a guest director this time.