Kazakhstan chooses Bauryna Salu as best international feature film

Submissions for the 97th Academy Awards' Best International Feature Film category are pouring in as countries rush to submit their entries before the November 14 deadline. Kazakhstan is the latest country to nominate a national contender, Askhat Kuchinchirekov's coming-of-age story. Bauryna Salu.

The film premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival last year and was the highlight of Kazakhstan's national film awards, the Tulpars, winning the award for Best Film. It is Kuchinchirekov's debut as a director. International film fans will know him for his acting performances in Sergei Dvortsevoy's Tulipanwhich won the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes in 2008, and the Ayka in 2018, which made the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature Film but was not nominated.

Bauryna Salu revolves around a young boy in rural Kazakhstan who is given over to his grandmother after birth, in accordance with the nomadic tradition of “Bauryna Salu,” in which a close relative, rather than a child's biological parents, is entrusted with the upbringing of a child. When his grandmother dies, the 12-year-old boy moves in with his parents for the first time and struggles to restore his relationship with them. For the feature film, Kuchinchirekov drew on his own experiences growing up with his grandparents in accordance with the Bauryna Salu tradition. Wide Management is handling international distribution of the feature film.

Kazakhstan was nominated once for the best international main race, for Sergei Bodrov’s Mongol in 2007, but has not won yet.

The shortlist for the best international feature films will be announced on December 17. The nominations will be announced on January 17, 2025. The 2025 Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 2.