Harmony Lessons

Emir Baigazin's impressive film debut really made jaws drop at the 2013 Berlin film festival where it premiered. This stylish and uncompromising tale of youth and violence follows 16 year-old Aslan, who lives with his grandmother in rural Kazhakstan. In the very first scene, he is somewhat comically chasing a goat, before the scene suddenly turns brutal, in a way that gives premonitions of what is to come. The film then proceeds to tell about Aslan’s experiences at his school – an institution riddled with violence, a system of abuse in which Aslan has to finds a way to survive. Where does this violence come from, and how does it find its way into the grown-up world?

Emir Baigazin (b.1984) is a director, producer, and actor from Kazakhstan. He studied at the National Academy of Art in Almaty and was discovered by several international film festivals even before his first feature Harmony Lessons in 2013. Baigazin is one of the main guests at this year's Films from the South festival.