The plight of immigrant workers in Moscow gets a heart-rending outing in Ayka, which made the nine-strong short list for the Academy's Best Foreign Language Feature. Samal Yeslyamova, who plays the title character, nabbed the best actress award at Cannes. Ayka came from Kyrgyzstan, hoping to open a clothing factory with borrowed money. Now deep into the Moscow winter, she's dangerously in debt to some vicious loan sharks, lacks a work permit and doesn't even have a room of her own. To make matters worse, she's just given birth. Kazakh-born director Sergey Dvortsevoy (Tulpan) trades the wide-open spaces of his feature debut for the dark corners of Russia's capital. In keeping with the protagonist's no-way-out situation, he shoots in a claustrophobically tight style, keeping the camera glued to Ayka's determined face and battered body.
Director Biography
Russian filmmaker Sergey Dvortsevoy was born in 1962. In 2008, his film Tulpan was Kazakhstan's official entry to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Press
"Dvortsevoy deserves praise for making a film willing to show a woman ready to do anything she can to live, unafraid if those choices make her character unsympathetic." - Hollywood Reporter
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