What’s this project about?
I have already had the privilege of turning to the wemakeit community with previous film projects. Thanks to that support, films could be completed and made visible – films that speak about Central Asia, human dignity, women, children, injustice, and subjects that still too often remain unseen internationally. My previous work on the film KURAK, in which I was involved as a producer, received international recognition and awards. For me, that recognition was more than a professional success. It was a sign that stories from Central Asia can be heard when they are told with artistic precision, courage, and responsibility. Now I am turning to you with a new film project – one that is painful, necessary, and deeply personal. This film was not born from a desire to turn tragedy into sensation. It was born because silence is no longer an option. Violence against women is not a private issue and not a national exception. It is one of the most persistent human rights violations worldwide. In Kazakhstan, it has become one of the country’s most painful social issues in recent years. The case of former Kazakh government minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev showed, in a deeply disturbing way, that violence against women does not simply happen behind closed doors. It becomes possible when silence, fear, abuse of power, and institutional indifference are accepted for too long. But our film does not place the perpetrator at the centre. At the centre is the woman. A mother. A family. A police call that comes far too late from an indifferent officer at a local police station. Children who are left orphaned after a tragedy. A world in which violence against a woman can, in the end, almost become an administrative formality – like a bill that the victim’s mother is expected to pay.
Directed by Assel Aushakimova; Cinematography by Aigul Nurbulatova 
Raikhan Aitkozhanova
My project is special because ...
As a producer with Central Asian roots, living and working in Switzerland, I feel a responsibility to speak about what is often hidden behind words such as «tradition», «family», «shame», or «that’s just how it is». KURAK painfully showed me why these films are necessary: internationally, the film was recognised and awarded, yet in Kyrgyzstan, where its stories originate, it was denied public screening approval. That silence is not a reason to stop — it is the reason to continue. With PAY THE BILL, I take this path further. Created by an entirely female film team, the film tells a story of violence against women without exploiting pain or turning tragedy into spectacle. It is a film about fear, power and silence — and about the price women pay when society looks away for too long.
This is what I need backing for.
The hardest part of the journey is already behind us: the main shoot has been completed. But right now, the decisive phase of post-production begins. Without final sound design, music, colour grading, subtitles, and the necessary communication and festival work, the film cannot reach its audience. It cannot reach the festivals, cinemas, universities, human rights events, and public discussion spaces where this subject needs to be seen and discussed. We are not raising funds for an abstract idea. We are raising funds to complete a film that already exists – a film that now needs to fulfil its mission: to expose and break open the false securities of a culture of silence.
