Posted on Mar 27, 2022
Movie about bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan nominated for Academy Award
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In rural Kyrgyzstan, an estimated 1 in 3 marriages begin with an abduction, researchers and rights groups say.
Unaware of abductors waiting for them outside their workplace or home, women are forcibly shoved into a vehicle, often in broad daylight, and driven to a man’s village for marriage, they say.
At times, these men kidnap the wrong woman. But once they set out to bring home a bride, it doesn’t matter who she is, as one fictional character finds in “Ala Kachuu - Take and Run,” one of the films nominated for best live-action short at this year’s Academy Awards.
“Why did you pick me, of all people?” the character, Sezim, asks. Her new husband replies, “What was I supposed to do? I was looking for your colleague but I couldn’t find her. Back home, the wedding was already prepared. I couldn’t return empty-handed.”
Unaware of abductors waiting for them outside their workplace or home, women are forcibly shoved into a vehicle, often in broad daylight, and driven to a man’s village for marriage, they say.
At times, these men kidnap the wrong woman. But once they set out to bring home a bride, it doesn’t matter who she is, as one fictional character finds in “Ala Kachuu - Take and Run,” one of the films nominated for best live-action short at this year’s Academy Awards.
“Why did you pick me, of all people?” the character, Sezim, asks. Her new husband replies, “What was I supposed to do? I was looking for your colleague but I couldn’t find her. Back home, the wedding was already prepared. I couldn’t return empty-handed.”
Movie about bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan nominated for Academy Award
Posted from nbcnews.com
Kyrgyzstan
Wedding
Marriage
Movies
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Researchers and rights groups say such stories are not uncommon in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country of about 6.5 million people. In many cases, men kidnap women because they are unable to pay for a traditional wedding and are pressured to marry before a certain age.
While “Ala Kachuu - Take and Run” is a work of fiction, the stories depicted are real.
Though the ethnic Kyrgyz practice — known as ala kachuu, which means “to take a young woman and run away” — is outlawed, it has seen a resurgence since Kyrgyzstan declared independence from the then-Soviet Union in 1991.
Researchers say while some women agree to mock abductions out of tradition, many others are nonconsensual. Forced marriage is considered a human rights violation by the United Nations, and women who refuse it in Kyrgyzstan have been killed.
While the film is a work of fiction, the stories depicted are real. Director and writer Maria Brendle said she met a 19-year-old man during the casting process who proudly told her he had helped his friends kidnap three women. He was not given any role in the film.
The third time, the man said, he and his friends mistakenly abducted a woman who came around the corner where they were hiding at the same time the woman they planned to kidnap was supposed to arrive. This inspired Sezim’s kidnapping in the film.
“There are so many real moments, real stories, real faces in this film,” Brendle said in an interview over Zoom from Zurich."
..."Researchers and rights groups say such stories are not uncommon in Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian country of about 6.5 million people. In many cases, men kidnap women because they are unable to pay for a traditional wedding and are pressured to marry before a certain age.
While “Ala Kachuu - Take and Run” is a work of fiction, the stories depicted are real.
Though the ethnic Kyrgyz practice — known as ala kachuu, which means “to take a young woman and run away” — is outlawed, it has seen a resurgence since Kyrgyzstan declared independence from the then-Soviet Union in 1991.
Researchers say while some women agree to mock abductions out of tradition, many others are nonconsensual. Forced marriage is considered a human rights violation by the United Nations, and women who refuse it in Kyrgyzstan have been killed.
While the film is a work of fiction, the stories depicted are real. Director and writer Maria Brendle said she met a 19-year-old man during the casting process who proudly told her he had helped his friends kidnap three women. He was not given any role in the film.
The third time, the man said, he and his friends mistakenly abducted a woman who came around the corner where they were hiding at the same time the woman they planned to kidnap was supposed to arrive. This inspired Sezim’s kidnapping in the film.
“There are so many real moments, real stories, real faces in this film,” Brendle said in an interview over Zoom from Zurich."
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