During the famine genocide of the 1930s in the Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, gravedigger Isatai picks up bodies and takes them to a mass grave. The head of the village hopes to get some provisions from Sarkand and sends Isatai to deliver a message. Trying to protect his younger brother, Isatai takes him on the road. The endless steppe turns into a circular nightmare, where two forces – space and hunger – start to control Isatai’s mind. In what becomes a physical journey and a mental adventure, Isatai suffers from hallucinations, meets folklore characters and faces a difficult choice that might determine the destiny of the entire village.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
