English summary

A journey based on tales of the wind, about life and death, through the land of the kuraï (tumbleweed), where nothing is as it seems. Photographer Marjoleine Boonstra’s has made her film debut with a poetic, visual road movie that exudes a fairytale-like quality. The story takes place on the wide open steppe (high grasslands) of Kyrgyzstan.

The journey through this inhospitable landscape starts with Emo. His girlfriend Vera tells him she is pregnant but she does not know who the father is. Without a second thought, he leaves her and the city. He treks into the desolate landscape, heading for the place where he grew up and searching for a direction in life. His path is determined by accidental meetings in which he is able to coax the other person’s secrets out of them. The best encounter is with Sufyani, who imagines that her dead son is still alive. She knows that he has died but doesn’t dare to believe it and is still seeking him. Emo’s meetings help him to better understand life and to accept it as it is.

Marjoleine Boonstra travelled through Central Asia in search of the synergy between people, animals and nature. The experience inspired her to make the film, and to use ‘kurai’ or tumbleweed as a metaphorical ‘leitmotif’. Like the film’s main character, kurai is blown across the open grasslands.