Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

His first narrative feature, Sergey Dvortsevoy's film is extraordinary, an exhilaratingly alive and sweet-natured tale set in the barren landscape of a Kazakh steppe. Asa, just demobbed from the navy, returns to live with his sister Samal, her husband Ondas and their three children. Asa dreams of his own flock of sheep, but it appears that until he gets married, his wish will never be granted. He targets a young unmarried woman called Tulpan, whose face he has never seen, but her feelings are not to be taken for granted…

Dvortsevoy's documentary background is put to masterly use: his insistence on authenticity allows him to capture some of the most marvellous footage of nature possible. Four years in the making, Tulpan is filmmaking of the highest order, reminiscent of Werner Herzog at his best.

Winner: BFI’s Sutherland Trophy and ‘Un Certain Regard’, Cannes 2008