UPCOMING SCREENINGS


PREVIOUS SCREENINGS

Toronto International Film Festival
Friday September 10 @ 6:00PM - AMC 4
Saturday September 11 @ 9:30AM - AM AMC 3

Calgary International Film Festival: Buy Tix Online!
Sunday, Oct. 3, 04:45pm - Eau Claire Market - Cineplex Odeon - #2

TIFF/ Bell Lightbox, Toronto - Opens Nov 18
Daily at 1:30pm & 8:25pm. Sat and Sunday add 5pm

Fire Hall Films, Yukon Film Society: Feb 12

Bytowne Cinema, Ottawa: Feb 25 - 28

Broadway Theatre, Saskatoon: March 18 - 30

Regina Public Library: May 19 - 22

REVIEWS

"the experience is transporting, as all well imagined and well crafted film experiences should be."
- Toronto Star

"To underline what will be lost, filmmaker Aktan Arym Kubat emphasizes the beauty of the land and the appeal of the villager’s simple lives. Mr. Light, for example, has an idyllic domestic life with his wife and four daughters. Besides the specific political and historical elements, the film is a slow, quiet meditation on a very different way of life. The Light Thief is in the Kyrgyz language, with English subtitles."
- Toronto Star

"Though The Light Thief would appear to fit neatly into the tradition of the small-town farce, its genial surface masks the darker, bleaker nature of Arym Kubat’s film, which eventually reveals its true colours as an allegory about Kyrgyzstan’s troubles in the face of various post-Soviet pressures and problems. So while the earthy humour gives the film plenty of charm — as does its portrayal of Kyrgyz traditions — there’s a more troubling side to this seemingly simple and eminently local story. "
- Eye Weekly

"It’s as if Robin Hood worked for the power company"
- Globe and Mail

"Kubat’s vision is felt in waves as he perfectly captures the disruption of a solid foundation, much in the way a gentle breeze gives way to a torrential storm."
- Toronto Film Scene

"every sequence is commendable, as is an attention to customs and traditions juxtaposed with negative change, as represented by the wardrobe, demeanour and morality of the opportunistic newcomers."
- Exclaim

"A work of political outrage, tragicomically told, The Light Thief tells the story of a dirt-poor Kyrg village where one old man nicknamed Mr. Light (director Arym Kubat) does his bit for the common good, wiring free electricity for the poorest of the poor, and carrying on in quixotic attempts to create windmill power for the village.

His efforts attract the attention of corrupt officials who come bearing smiles, but seek to co-opt him or worse.
The little-known Asian country in Russia’s orbit is fascinatingly — if meanderingly — depicted, from their ceremonial life to their gritty day-to-day existence"
- Toronto Sun

"The unnamed village in The Light Thief is just about as remote as one can get, separated from scenes of uprising in the Kyrgyzstan capital by a forbidding mountain range. It's a place where “Mr. Light” is a modest hero, rigging wires to bring light and heat to his impoverished neighbours. But he naively welcomes change, and director Aktan Arym Kubat (who also stars) is skilled at making the trappings of modernity — even SUVs and business suits — seem particularly out of place in this windswept locale."
- Toronto.com

"From Kyrgyzstan comes a modest but engaging fable about a shock-prone electrician who is caught up in cultural changes and more sinister machinations that threaten the future of his already poor village. Besides giving a charming lead performance as the somewhat addled but well-intentioned “Mr. Light,” writer-director Kubat succeeds at generating considerable thematic complexity and wider resonance from his seemingly simple and eminently local story."
- Andersonesque

"unaffected realism"
- Now Magazine

"While many gather to watch the next big blockbuster to hit the screens, there are others who seek out the more alternative options to mainstream. FilmsWeLike, the independent distribution company headed by filmmaker Ron Mann, recently announced that the 2010 Palm d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat); I Wish I Knew (Hai Shang Chuan Qi) - the new film from master Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke; and The Light Thief (Svet-Aki) a delightful gem from Kyrgyzstan’s Aktan Arym Kubat will be showcased at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival."
- Digital Journal