in Toronto 2010 - german films

Contemporary World Cinema
THE LIGHT THIEF
They call him “Svet-ake” (“Mr. Light”). The electrician is responsible for bringing more than just light to the
people around him. Like moths, everybody is drawn to his kindness: those with short circuits in their
electricity, and those with short circuits in their marriage, those who have taken all the power in the city, and
those who have given up the will to live. He helps everyone and is everywhere. He doesn’t even shy from
breaking the law, rewinding an old and lonely pensioner’s electricity meter so that he doesn’t owe the State,
but rather the State owes him. The economic devastation of the country has had an enormous impact on the
working people and yet despite the upheaval they have not lost the ability to love, to suffer, to share their lives
with friends, and enjoy what they have… in particular our resilient electrician who possesses a wonderful and
open heart. He not only brings electric light (which is often out) to the lives of the inhabitants of this village,
but he also spreads the light of love, loyalty, life, and most of all, lots of laughter.
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Aktan Arym Kubat Screenplay Aktan Arym Kubat,
Talip Ibraimov Director of Photography Hassan Kydyraliyev Producers Altynai Koichumanova, Cedomir Kolar,
Thanassis Karathanos, Marc Baschet, Karl Baumgartner, Denis Vaslin Production Companies Pallas Film/
Halle, Oy Art/Beshkek, A.S.A.P. Films/Paris, Volya Films/Rotterdam, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, ARTE/
Strasbourg Principal Cast Aktan Arym Kubat, Taalaikan Abazova, Askat Sulaimanov, Asan Amanov, Stanbek
Toichubaev Length 80 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version Kyrgyz Subtitled Version English
Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festivals Cannes 2010, Locarno 2010, Toronto 2010 World Sales The Match
Factory GmbH · Michael Weber · Balthasarstrasse 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany · phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90
fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 · email info@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
Aktan Arym Kubat was born in 1957 in Kyrgyzstan and started working as a production designer in
the 1980s. He wrote his first screenplay in 1995 and began directing in 1990. His films include: Where's
Your Home, Snail? (1992), Bus Stop (short, 1995), Hassan Hussen (short, 1997), The Adopted Son (1998),
The Chimp (2001), The Mother's Heaven (2010), and The Light Thief (2010).
Screenings
Public:
10 Sept. 18:00 AMC 4
11 Sept. 09:30 AMC 3
Press & Industry:
9 Sept. 09:30 NFB
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