18 Kilohertz

Almaty in south-eastern Kazakhstan. The place where director Farkhat Sharipov himself was born and raised is also where the story of his film plays out. Based on the novel “Hardcore” by Zara Yesenaman, it accompanies two friends who slide ever deeper into a vortex of drugs and violence. Between the sorrow of the big city and the heroin boom of the 1990s, they sound out the limits of freedom. Yet when one of them overdoses, this social study turns into a personal horror trip for the other. In his grief and under the influence of drugs, Sanjar can no longer distinguish between dream and reality. His mother and the rest of the family have long lost the ability to talk to him, and his love for Alice cannot heal him either. It's too late to return to normality. NaF