Native Dancer

On the windswept plains of Kazakhstan lives Aida, an aged femme shaman, Baksy in native tongue. Gifted with psychic powers, she provides her community with invaluable spiritual guidance, like healing of the soul or finding lost cattle. Arman, a gangster, enters the village, setting off a clash between pagan rituals and modern capitalism. He sees a possibility of exploiting the idyllic area by building a gas station and a motel on Aida’s residential campsite. However, businessman and owner, Batir, cherishes Aida and her contribution to the community, and he refuses to sell. In a change of backdrop from nature scenes to the rough streets of Kazakhstan capital Almaty, Arman kidnaps Batir’s son. Meanwhile, Aida is nowhere to be found.

Co-written by Russian master director Sergei Bodrov, Native Dancer is a tense drama, drawing influences from action as well as fantasy. This is a much longed-for follow up to Guka Omarova's awarded Schizo (2004).

Guka Omarova

Born in 1968 in Kazakhstan, Omarova studied journalism at the University of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and documentary production at the Institute of Cinema and Theatre in Almaty. After a series of shorts, Omarova completed her feature debut Schizo in 2004, for which she received several awards at international film festivals. She currently lives in Rotterdam, Holland.