Baikonur

Year: 2011
Country: KAZAKHSTAN, GERMANY, RUSSIA
Run Time: 94 minutes

An absolutely stunning visual delight, BAIKONUR is a most unusual love story. The Baikonur Cosmodrome, an entire Kazakh city administered by Russia, encompasses an old yet ultra-modern space launch facility. Riding furiously across the barren steppes outside Baikonur are rival groups of Kazakh horsemen, intent on being the first to reach newly-landed space junk, which they recycle for a profit. Burning objects rain from the sky on a regular basis. The villagers' motto: Whatever falls from heaven is a gift from God, and belongs to the first who finds it. The launches are monitored by a young Kazakh ham radio operator and space fanatic calling himself Gagarin, after the Soviet cosmonaut. One day the capsule containing a beautiful French space tourist named Julie crashes on its way back to Earth, rendering her comatose. Gagarin takes her tenderly into his yurt and places her on a bier, like Sleeping Beauty. What will happen when she wakes up? Will Gagarin follow Julie to her otherworldly life or remain down-to-the-Kazakh-earth? (In English, Kazakh, Russian, and French with subtitles) – B.B.

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