Cinetrain: Cultural Neighboring (2010)

In a region of the world that use to be united as one country, people had to adapt to new borders, new relations to their neighbors. Even if they are united by their past, their present totally differs. A lot of Russians remained and still live in countries of Central Asia, while a huge majority of Kyrgyz migrate to work in Russia. We gave the word to the simple people from different ethnic, social and religious origins whose voice hardly get heard, and drew up a map of their lives, dreams and hopes, breaching all borders. On the footsteps of Soviet director Alexander Medvedkin, and his film train in the 1930's, 20 young filmmakers from all around the world went on an incredible documentary filming experience. They spent 3 weeks on the road, traveling by train from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, through Kazakhstan and Russia, stopping in big and smaller cities on their way to Moscow. On their way, they shot and edited on the spot, a movie composed of 5 short novels, drawing a unique and fresh portrait of three countries in search of their identity, 20 years already after the collapse of the Soviet Union.