The Land Where the Winds Stood Still

Synopsis

The Land Where the Wind Stood Still is a frenetic, raw and absorbing western inspired by the Great Kazakh Famine known as the Goloschokin Genocide, which took place between 1930 and 1933. This film portrays the harsh testimonies of its survivors through the character of Juspar, a relentless mother who does everything she can to save and feed her two children Jolan and Boshay. Juspar tries to reach the village of her childhood in the hope of finding some living relatives, but on the way, she will have to survive rains, sandstorms, famine, poisoned corpses and hungry vultures. This dark period in the country’s history is largely due to the process of sedentarization of a mainly nomadic society that began in 1928, and the forced collectivization of the land.