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STUDENT

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STUDENT

Director: Darezhan Omirbayev
Kazakhstan   |   2012   |   90 minutes
Kazakh and Russian, with subtitles in English
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FILM INFORMATION

Synopsis A solitary philosophy student steers his directionless life toward the commission of a violent crime, spurred on by postmodern musings and a post-Soviet order characterized by growing inequality, institutional corruption and a ruthless ethic of “eat or be eaten.“ Inspired by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, director Darezhan Omirbayev roots his nameless student in the losing segment of Kazakhstan’s new capitalist era, whose population watches the rich rise above common legal proscriptions and old-fashioned communal values. Omirbayev’s brooding protagonist may prove the willing student of the age, but he alone reckons with the consequences of his actions—a gesture strikingly at odds with a world losing a consistent concept of justice.


About the Director Darezhan Omirbayev was born in the Dzhambul Province of the Soviet Union (now Kazakhstan) in 1958. His debut feature, Kairat, won the Silver Leopard and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Locamo Film Festival in 1992, and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Strasbourg Film Festival in 1993. His third feature, Killer, won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998. Student is his sixth feature film.


Available Screening Formats 35mm, DVD. Digibeta available upon request.


Click here for Non-Theatrical & Exhibition screening information


NOW PLAYING: Check the film calendar for current screenings.


Featured in the Global Lens 2013 film series.



CAST

The Student - Nurlan Baitasov
Sanya - Maya Serikbayeva
The Poet - Edige Bolysbayev
Student's Mother - Bakhytzhan Turdaliyeva
1st University Lecturer - Aruzhan Sain

CREW

Director - Darezhan Omirbayev
Writer - Darezhan Omirbayev
Executive Producer - Limara Zheksembayeva
Director of Photography - Boris Troshev
Editor - Aizhan Bissenbinova
Sound - Iliya Biserov
Music - Baurzhan Kuanys
REVIEWS

“There's much to admire in the film's elegantly classical tempo and the way Omirbayev achieves so much with so little” -Variety

“With his new film Student, Kazakh director Darezhan Omirbayev puts to rest any notion among the world’s intellectuals and literary folk that adaptations of Dostoievski’s great Crime and Punishment have been exhausted. Not only is his aesthetic singular—lean, pared down to nicely textured basics, excision of extraneous images and sounds—but the overall social, political, and geographical context is so unique that it affords him the opportunity to spin the entire narrative in an uncharted direction. The use of gorgeous spare wrapping for complex ideas is an inspired choice that keeps the entire project both accessible and stimulating.” -Screen Daily

“Shooting in his characteristically spare style, Omirbayev stays resolutely outside his main character, rendering him and his motives opaque.” -Toronto IFF

“Student…is easily one of the most passionate films Omirbayev has made in his 20-year career.” -Hollywood Reporter

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Toronto International Film Festival
Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
Moscow International Film Festival
New Zealand International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
Film By the Sea
Haifa International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Busan International Film Festival
Antalya Golden Orange International Film Festival
La Roche sur Yon International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
Sao Paulo International Film Festival
Viennale International Film Festival
Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
Minsk International Film Festival
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival
Mar del Plata International Film Festival
Festival des 3 Continents Nantes
International Film Festival India
Trieste Film Festival