HARMONY LESSONS (UROKI GARMONII) New Auteurs

With his stunningly accomplished debut feature, Kazakh writer, director and editor Emir Baigazin firmly announces himself as a filmmaker of tremendous power and lyricism. In its very first images, Baigazin establishes a gripping hypnotic rhythm as 13-year old Aslan silently chases after a sheep. This playful sequence gives way to icy reality as he slices the beast’s throat, bleeds it out and skins it without remorse, a calculating ritual. At school, he is swiftly humiliated by a bully who turns him into the class pariah. Soon after, a hierarchy of corruption is revealed that permeates beyond the schoolyard. Damaged but undaunted, Aslan methodically plots his retaliation. In possession of a rare gift for storytelling, Baigazin operates with an uncompromising authority, meticulously sculpting a captivating narrative with the focus, precision and clarity of a master of the medium. A delicate glimpse into a cultural microcosm, HARMONY LESSONS resonates with haunting universality.