The film “Atbai’s Fight” by Adilkhan Yerzhanov will take part in the main competition program of the 35th Warsaw International Film Festival, which will be held from October 11 to 20, 2019. This will be the world premiere of the 8th full-length feature film of Adilkhan Yerzhanov, created by Sunny Production with the participation of Short Brothers and Arizona Productions. The chairman of the Festival’s international jury will be Małgorzata Bela-Pawlikowska, producer of the acclaimed film “Cold War” by Pawel Pawlikowski, and one of the main actors of “Suspiria” by Luca Guadagnino.

Yerzhanov’s film tells the story of a street thug Atbai (Daniyar Alshinov) who decides to take part in a street fight tournament, where the winners are already decided. But Atbai is going to win, because for him this victory is a chance to start a new life: to return to the big sport and to get his beloved woman (Dinara Baktybaeva) back. The role of Atbai’s main rival in the ring, the famous fighter Rafael, was played by actor Sanjar Madi. Assel Sadvakassova appeared in the film as the influential producer of Rafael, Aliya.

Sadvakassova is also the general producer of the film. The producer of international promotion is Olga Khlasheva, the executive producer - Serik Abishev, both have been collaborating with Yerzhanov for a long time. Adilkhan Yerzhanov and Inna Smailova worked on the script. The DOP of the film is Yerkinbek Ptyraliyev, who had previously also worked with Yerzhanov on the film “The Owners”. The production designer is another permanent associate of the director Yermek Utegenov, who worked with him on all films of the director. The music for the film was created by composer Sergei Shegay.

- I’ll be happy to present my film personally. And, of course, I hope to present it to our local viewers soon. See you! – said Adilkhan Yerzhanov.

The Warsaw Film Festival was founded in 1985. It is a Class A festival, as well as film festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Venice. The festival aims to open its audience the latest and most interesting trends in world cinema.