Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s film “The Owners” of 2014, is going to delight moviegoers again. The third full-length feature film of the director (there are nine of them now) was first presented to the audience as part of the Official Program of the 67th Cannes International Film Festival and had a good festival history: the film took part in more than 20 prestigious festivals around the world, including Toronto , Busan, Warsaw and Moscow, and received numerous awards.

5 years after the premiere, this surreal tragicomedy about two brothers and a sister trying to defend their home continues to arouse keen interest among the world cinema community. The film will be shown as part of the International Film Festival “On the Edge” in Sakhalin which will be held from August 23 to 30. This is not the first time Sakhalin has accepted Yerzhanov’s films: last year, two of his works were presented there. His film “The Gentle Indifference of the World” took part in the Competition Program, and actor Kuandyk Dyussembayev won the “Best Actor” Award for it. The film “Night God” was screened out of competition.

Yerzhanov is sympathetic to this Russian film festival: “It seems to me, that the spread of cinematic thought around the world arises thanks to such festivals as the festival in Sakhalin: such events create connection between the audience and auteur cinematography. The Sakhalin Festival is very high-quality, it is aimed to show complex cinema. And at the same time there are always a lot of spectators. Of course, I am glad that my film will be screened there.”

Actors Yerbolat Yerzhanov, Aydin Sakhaman and Aliya Zainalova were engaged in leading roles  in the film – as 25-year-old John, his teenage brother Yerbol and younger sister Aliya. The producers are traditionally Serik Abishev and Olga Khlasheva. The script is written by Adilkhan Yerzhanov. The director of photography is Yerkinbek Ptyraliev, who also later worked on the film “Atbay’s Fight” and the new film of Yerzhanov, the title of which will be announced later. The production designer is Yermek Utegenov, who worked on all the films of the director.

The International Film Festival “On the Edge” positions itself as “an echo of the big world of cinema that resonates on the edge of the world” and as "the answer of the East to the questions of the West.” It “brings the latest news from Cannes, Berlin and Venice to Sakhalin where they meet the news of Asian cinema.”