Malika, a 12-year-old girl, leads a happy and free life with her divorced mother. Then one day, her father storms in after hearing about her mom’s new relationship, and Malika learns crushing news: if her mother remarries, her father will gain custody of her. In the summer, Malika heads to her grandparents’ countryside home to spend time with her mom. There, she enjoys time with her extended family, surrounded by beautiful nature. But when the prospect of her mom’s remarriage becomes real, anxiety sets in. For Malika’s family, ethnic Ingush minorities and conservative Muslims living in Kazakhstan, decisions about women’s remarriages and child custody rest entirely with men. Adolescent Malika’s existential anxiety is ultimately connected to the helplessness her mother feels, unable to choose her own fate despite appearing independent and free. Through breathtaking cinematography, Natalia Uvarova conveys Malika’s suffering and growth with great dexterity.
