ABOUT THE FILM
Our narrative film ALA KACHUU tells the story of a young Kyrgyz woman being kidnapped, abducted and forced to marry a stranger. Under the guise of tradition this custom is still far too common.
Bridekidnapping is called «Ala Kachuu», meaning «grab and run!» - and that’s exactly what happens to the women on a daily basis: They get abducted and forced to marry. Fearing social stigmatization and pressured by their very own family the victims often stay with their kidnappers.
Our film is based on numerous true stories of young Kyrgyz women our author and director Maria Brendle has come to learn through direct interviews. She has done intense research for the past 3 years.
The Kyrgyz law proscribes bridekidnapping. However, way too often the young and naive girls get convinced to stay in the name of tradition.
We want to address bridekidnapping and want to lend these young women a voice they don’t have. We want the world to finally hear their stories. To do so we need your support.
Mahabat Sadyrbed, born and raised in Kyrgyzstan, is an expert in Central Asian cultures. In the following video she describes this brutal custom and why this film is so important (in German):
ABOUT US
We are a professional film production company based in Zurich, Switzerland. As Filmgerberei (http://filmgerberei.ch/en/) we produce documentaries, feature films and short films as well as corporate films. Our passion is to tell the untold.
This is a project our whole team around author and director Maria Brendle supports with all their heart.
Maria Brendle, author & director
Nadine Lüchinger, producer
Flavio Gerber, producer
Cosima Frei, assistant director
Nadine Boller, translator, fixer in Kyrgyzstan
Cholponai Borubaeva, service production Kyrgyzstan
Mahabat Sadyrbek, expert for Kyrgyz culture, translator
To meet our team, visit https://alakachuu.com/en/team/
And this is why the film is so important to our team (in German):
WHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
Through this film we want to inspire young Kyrgyz women to stand up for their own human rights. We want to offer the film as a tool for NPOs in Kyrgyzstan and around the world to prompt discussions around this issue.
Thanks to the funds of the ’Zürcher Filmstiftung’ and the ’Bundesamt für Kultur’ the film is currently 60% funded. This would not be enough money to produce the film.
We need at least another 55’000CHF to make it happen. The more we get, the more professional the film and the stronger the message we can send out to the world.
Your money will let us pay for production costs such as
- equipment
- actors
- crew members
- location rents
- props
- flights
- accommodation
In Kyrgyzstan we encountered great support and thanks to our Kyrgyz film crew in Bishkek, we were able to find all locations and the actors during our first visit. Together with your support we can make this an international call.
(get an impression of our preparations in Kyrgyzstan on our blog: https://alakachuu.com/en/blog/)
We are all set to start shooting in summer. We are only missing the funds to do so.
Be part of our journey to raise the voice of the Kyrgyz women and support us now.
Because every woman should have the right to say no!