The world premiere of Home for Sale took place on October 10, 2022 at the 27th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. This engrossing drama, set in the Kyrgyz Republic capital city of Bishkek, is the second feature film from acclaimed Kyrgyz director Taalaibek Kulmendeev.
The touching, mutual love of two newlyweds, modestly raising their three-year-old daughter and expecting the birth of a second child, suddenly becomes more complicated as a result of the uncoordinated actions of both husband and wife. Driven by good intentions and the desire to protect each other from unnecessary pain, the couple sacrifice something intimate that, in the long term, will not bring them happiness. The story examines how the experience of victim mentality can make it challenging to keep focused on what is most essential in life: trust, solidarity, and love.
Kulmendeev states that his film depicts the conflict between family values and problems affecting everyday living. It is a familiar story, portraying how easy it is for a young family to fall into a web of financial bondage from which there is no escape. But as the story progresses, we begin to feel the atmosphere of indifference and the cruelty of the world closing in. Although the film delivers a straightforward narrative through simple yet proficient film language, it can also be viewed as a global drama, in terms of painting a portrait of society and the current era that reigns today in the Kyrgyz Republic and many other developing countries.
Beautifully acted by the lead actors, Kalipa Tashtanova and Omurbek Nurdinov, with some captivating shots of Bishkek, Home for Sale effectively portrays the bleakness and desperate times that so many of us can face at any moment in our lives, and explores the dilemma that families, whilst trying to save materialistic values, can ultimately end up losing their inner well-being.