Bulat Mazhagulov

An epic drama about the life, love and creativity of the Kazakh poet Abai (1845-1904), an educator, thinker and politician of the 19th century.

"Three brothers live in a small village somewhere in Kazakhstan. Nearby is the small station, where an elderly man, who has had the nickname Klein since he was in a concentration camp in the Second World War, rules the roost. ... The children ask inquisitively about the nature of his activities, as nothing seems to happen. He tells them that he supplies a local military base with material. Klein starts telling them different stories, for instance about the beautiful lake where the officers spend their spare time and where life is as beautiful as the women. The picture he sketches of this lake is so attractive to the three brothers and their friends that they resolve to go there. They know from the old man that it will cost money, because life is dear. Tri brata is not a children's film, but a fairy-tale about today's world with its military aircraft on one side and an elderly man with his railway material on the other." - IFFR