This is What I Remember

Source: Diversion

‘This is What I Remember ’

Bangkok-based outfit Diversion has secured world sales rights to This Is What I Remember, the latest drama from leading Kyrgyz filmmaker Aktan Arym Kubat.

The film premiered in competition at Tokyo International Film Festival in October and received the jury grand prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards last month.

It is a co-production between Kyrgyzstan’s Kyrgyzfilm and Oy Art, the Netherlands’ Volya Films, Japan’s Bitters End, and France’s Mandra Films.

The story follows a man, played by Kubat, who has lost his memory and returns to Kyrgyzstan for the first time in more than 20 years. Set in a local village, he discovers much has changed during his absence, from the morals of the villagers and the radicalisation of Islam to growing crime and corruption.

Diversion founder Mai Meksawan closed the deal with producer Altynai Koichumanova of Oy Art.

Kubat, who is also known as Aktan Abdykalykov, is known for features such as The Adopted Son, which won the Locarno Silver Leopard in 1998, and The Light Thief, which screened in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2010. His previous film, Centaur, played in the Berlinale’s Panorama section in 2017 and won the CICAE Award.

Diversion’s latest sales line-up includes Filipino auteur Lav Diaz’s A Tale Of Filipino Violence, which premiered at FIDMarseille, and Kashmir director Aamir Bashir’s The Winter Within, which played in competition at Busan.