14A - Nudity

Kyrgyz with English subtitles

They call him “Svet-ake” (“Mr. Light”), but this electrician is responsible for bringing more than just light to the people around him. He helps everyone and is magically everywhere. Like a modern electrical Robin Hood, Mr. Light unabashedly breaks the law in the hopes of fairness, health and uniform happiness for the people he clearly adores.

THE LIGHT THIEF is a rare film from a complex and unique region: the Kyrgyz Republic. The economic devastation of the country has had an enormous impact on the working people, yet despite the upheaval, they have not lost the ability to love, suffer, share their lives with friends and enjoy what they have.

Their land is beautiful and rough like a frontier and alive with potential, but power lies in the hands of greed-driven people obsessed with their personal enrichment. “Svet-ake” is a resistance against this dark madness and capitalist drive. Like a ghost of the region and an elvish charmer of the brokenhearted, he brings the light literally and figuratively into the darkness of the region and shimmers as a faint hope for humanity to persevere against modern demands.

TS