Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 – The Kyrgyz film Burning initially centers itself around the premise of small-town gossip. Suburban residents whisper and share theories about what caused a fire in a nearby home during a rainy night. There’s increased speculation about the family who lives inside. The film, which has its share of unnerving scenes, then transforms into much heavier subject matter about domestic violence.
Directed by Radik Eshimov, the feature essentially focuses on a family of three. There’s mother-in-law Farida (Kalicha Seydalieva), who’s rumored to partake in black magic rituals, wife Asel (Aysanat Edigeeva), who neighbors assume lost her mind, and husband Marat (Ömürbek Izrailov). During the opening minutes, as flames consume the family’s home, one of the neighbors, in a drunken state, kicks off the series of rumors about the family and about the fire. From there, the movie toys with perception and point of view. In some ways, the movie’s various chapters feel like an anthology, though one that tells the same story about a family, but from different perspectives. It’s a bit of an experimental narrative, but Eshimov, and Aizada Amangeldy and Dastan Madalbekov, who wrote the script, manage to pull it off.
Seydalieva is one of the film’s standouts in terms of performances. She manages to make Farida mysterious and frightening. She’s a stern and humorless character, who shows little love for Asel. The neighbors see her stand in the backyard, whispering prayers, which feeds the rumor mill that she practices black magic. There’s one sequence at the breakfast table involving Asel, Farida, blood, and maggots that’s skin-crawling and unforgettable. This film certainly contains a few doses of horror and shocking moments.
Yet, though this is a horror film, it’s also about what goes on inside a home that neighbors don’t quite understand or fully see. They only catch glimpses of it. The fire itself becomes a metaphor for the conflict within the home and more specifically, the domestic violence. There are hints fairly early on that Asel suffers at the hands of her husband. This becomes abundantly clear past the halfway point. Some of the scenes become difficult to watch because they’re too grounded in the reality and pain of domestic abuse. Asel befriends one of her female neighbors, hoping to put an end to Marat’s reign of terror, but by that point, it’s too late. The neighbor does learn, however, that everything she assumed about Asel is wrong. She certainly didn’t lose her mind.
Overall, Burning is a moving and memorable Kyrgyz film. While it contains its share of unnerving sequences, the real horror lies in the portrayal of what goes on inside of a home and the domestic abuse a young woman faces. The movie plays with perception and point of view, slowly unraveling the heartbreaking truth behind its mystery.
