What brings people together? A common answer to this is, unfortunately, tragedy. Citizens of Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, faced this head on after the murder of Denis Ten, a national icon who won the only Olympic medal for figure skating in his country’s history. He was killed by petty thieves while they tried to steal his car mirrors, in the center of downtown in broad daylight. The entire city mourned his shocking death and commiserated by coming to the place of his murder to process all their emotions about the horrific incident and the systemic issues that allowed it to happen. Several grassroots organizations were formed to shepherd positive change, and the new documentary feature film by Werner Herzog protégé, Katerina Suvorova, follows one such organization, “Oyan Qazaqstan” (meaning “wake up Kazakhstan”). The score is a dance between the delicate and the destructive, feeling on the brink of despair and hope simultaneously. It is up to us which side of such emotions we put our attention towards, and therefore, what destiny we manifest.

Almaty

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Almaty

Macro/micro