Soldier of Love

Opening Night Film, 2025 Osaka Asian Film Festival
Official Selection, 2024 Busan International Film Festival

To the beats of the classic Kazakh rock band A’Studio comes director Farkhat Sharipov’s lavish moral tale of Beybut, a lead singer caught up in the seductions of fame. First comes the promise of going solo. Then comes the youthful dancer who catches his eye. With everything on the line, he takes the plunge into the limelight.

What sounds like a Kazakh “making the band” is actually a full-blown musical extravaganza, with the entire city of Almaty coming alive in color, dance, and spectacle. The 80s and 90s songs get a contemporary twist, and the choreography keeps pace with Beybut’s rise with the ease of a music video and the inventive contemporary flair of La La Land.