IN THEIR OWN WORDS

This film means a great deal to me because it brought together three generations of my students, and we made it together from beginning to end. My family was also part of the project.

What interests me about this story is that it begins with a familiar fantasy: you’re walking down the street and thinking how wonderful it would be to find a suitcase full of money. You imagine you could finally afford everything you’ve always dreamed of.

In the film, we decided to take that thought further and ask: what happens if you actually find that suitcase? Gradually, we came to realise that the money might come with a burden you are entirely unprepared to carry.

This is a fully independent project and our production company’s first fiction feature, so we saw the challenges primarily as a learning experience.

The greatest challenge was filming in Astana in winter: in February, temperatures dropped to minus forty degrees Celsius, and strong winds sweeping across the steppe made working on location difficult. We shot roughly half the film outdoors.

We founded XAIKU Production with friends with whom we graduated from film school in 2019. We had previously worked on other teams’ projects, but we always wanted to make our own feature film. In the company’s second year, we decided to take that step.

Making this film alongside our mentor, Yerlan Nurmukhambetov, whose films had already screened at the Busan International Film Festival, means a great deal to us. We are happy to be here with him and grateful to the festival’s organisers and programmers.

Yerlan is one of the kindest people I know. We’ve known each other since 2012 and have made several films together.

When he shared the idea for In Winter, we both wanted to make it as soon as possible. We decided not to wait for financing. Instead, we put together a small amount of money and made the film with a small team. When Yerlan sent me the script, I laughed all the way through it. I could already picture him in the lead role, with his family around him.

Yerlan, all his children, other family members and close friends appeared in the film. They’ve been part of the films we’ve made together over the years, but I was still surprised by how natural and funny Yerlan is on screen.

Working with him is a pleasure. He’s a true professional, and he brings warmth to everyone around him. He also has a wonderful team. I’ve known Nursultan since Yerlan’s earlier projects. Yerlan stays close to his students; many later work on his films and become his friends.

Everyone came to this film because they loved the idea and wanted to support one another. I think you can feel that closeness on screen. We had very little money, but we had trust, laughter and the freedom to make the film together. I’m very happy with what came out of it.