Sezim (Alina Turdumamatova) is a young woman in Kyrgyzstan with big dreams. She would like to go to university in Bishkek and move in with Aksana (Madina Talipbek) who left the village a while ago for an independent life in the city. But Sezim’s parents don’t approve of her plans. “The stone will stay where it has fallen,” says her mother, painting a picture of a future that Sezim doesn’t want to accept.

And so Sezim sneaks out and travels to Bishkek anyway. She takes the university exam. Aksana teaches her to drive. She even finds a job in a bakery to support herself. One day while closing the shop, three young men grab her and take her against her will to their village where she is told to marry one of her kidnappers. If she does not, she brings shame to her family and risks infertility, the local women tell her. It is the women’s job to convince her to put on the scarf of a married woman as a sign of acceptance. Some of the women were kidnapped into marriage themselves. “A happy life has to be earned with tears,” one of them says, trying to console her. And thus, it continues: a new generation of young women (and often men, too) fall victim to the seemingly unbreakable cycle of a heartbreaking tradition.

Filmmaker Maria Brendle could not believe what a friend who just had come back from a hiking trip in Kyrgyzstan told her. There was a custom in the central Asian country called “Ala Kachuu” which translates into “take and run,” and describes the common practice of bride kidnapping. Was I the only one who had never heard of this, Brendle wondered, but soon found out that the people around her were also not familiar with the way thousands of young women were forced into marriage every year.

This needed to change. “My goal was to draw attention to this,” Brendle says via Zoom from Zurich, Switzerland where she is based. Six years after that initial thought, her short film Ala Kachuu – Take and Run is nominated for an Academy Award and does just that.

Getting the film made was not easy – from getting the funds together to shooting in a faraway country where power outages are not uncommon and in a language, she does not speak. How could a German woman who grew up close to the Swiss border tell this story? Brendle believes the answer lies in the job description of a writer/director. “Our job is to empathize with our characters, no matter what characteristics they have or what culture they come from. There are filmmakers who make movies about serial killers, and I hope they are not serial killers themselves. Sometimes you just have to do more research and listen more.” 

Authenticity and respect were important to her – and to avoid ‘European mistakes.’ “It was clear to me that this would be a collaboration with the locals, and I always checked with the translator how to communicate,” she explains. “There is an age hierarchy for instance.  Directing the younger women was easier because I was an elder to them. With the older women, some of whom had their own experiences with being kidnapped, I always made sure I communicated and directed them in a way that was appropriate for someone younger than them.”

Surprisingly, kidnapping brides does not necessarily seem to be rooted in ancient nomad culture. There is no mention of “Ala Kachuu” in the “Epic of Manas,” the epic poem and most important piece of historic literature of the area. Suppressed during the Soviet era, the custom was revived like other traditions after the fall of the Soviet Union. Even though bride kidnapping is illegal in today’s Kyrgyzstan and some of the kidnappings are pre-arranged and agreed-upon beforehand, thousands of women are still forced into marriage by kidnapping every year.  Brendle applauds the fact that the practice is against the law. “That means that there is an understanding that this is wrong, but in reality, the tradition is stronger than the law. I heard the story of a woman who went to the police. They told her to go home and get the situation sorted out herself among the two families. It is really hard to imagine how much bride kidnapping is considered normal.”

How people think and process certain things was always of great interest to Brendle. After her bachelor’s degree in film from the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland, she also got a master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience from the Academy of Neuroscience in Cologne, Germany. “The brain is my hobby,” she laughs. “Others like to learn to play the guitar. I’m a bit of a nerd and wanted to know how the brain works. It’s really helpful when you create characters.” Combining her two interests, she wrote her thesis about the development of a screenwriter’s creativity and how to bring viewers along on an emotional journey. “It’s maybe an odd theme for a thesis in neuroscience, but it is certainly helpful in my work as a writer and filmmaker.”

Brendle is currently working on a new script about a WWII heroine. And she will attend the Academy Awards with her team, including her producer Nadine Lüchinger and her leading ladies Turdumamatova and Talipbek. “The nomination helps us to shine a light on the issue and it is also a big thank you to everybody who worked so hard on this film for six years,” she says with gratitude. About the Academy’s controversial decision not to air the acceptance speeches of eight categories live, including Best Live Action Short, she adds: “It’s a strange move. Why should Best Camera be more important than Best Editing? It creates a two-class system.” Nevertheless, she will enjoy the moment, no matter what. “It is sad to say, but working in short films, we are used to getting less attention. Had the separation always been like this, we wouldn’t think too much about it.”