If you think that film from Kazakhstan equals Borat, the fictional character created by Sacha Baron Cohen, you may want to think again – and come out to the Screen Festival at SXSW London 2026 for the latest cinematic evidence. After all, Kazakhstan is back in town and ready to make a splash.
Anna Bogutskaya, the head of screen at SXSW London, and her team have booked an eclectic mix of theatrical and series offerings. But Kazakhstani cinema features more prominently than most would expect from the Central Asian country with a population of about 21 million.
“We’ve got two features from Kazakhstan this year,” which both get to celebrate their U.K. premieres at the fest, highlights Bogutskaya, along with a short. “That is a territory that is just exploding. There’s so much [going on].”
The one film is Zhannat Alshanova’s debut feature Becoming, about teenage swimmer Mila (portrayed by Tamiris Zhangazinova), who takes care of the family home and her kid sister while her mother pursues affairs and opportunities. It premiered at Locarno 2025.
‘Becoming’ film still, courtesy of SXSW London
The other feature in the SXSW London spotlight is Aitore Zholdaskali’s Sicko, a thriller and social drama about a couple making a fortune by faking cancer, starring Ayan Utepbergen and Dilnaz Kurmangali, which world premiered at Rotterdam 2026. The movie is the filmmaker’s first solo feature directorial effort.
Meanwhile, the short film from Kazakhstan at SXSW London this year is My Brother Lyosha and I, from Lena Tronina, which is set in the 1990s and focuses on Lyosha and Lena, who “must rely on each other to endure quiet cycles of violence at home,” according to a synopsis.
Bogutskaya expects more films from Kazakhstan to hit the festival circuit and possibly the world stage. “We had a film from there last year as well,” namely Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s horror feature Cadet, as well as Dastan Zhapar Ryskeld’s Deal at the Border from neighboring Kyrgyzstan, about two young runners doing a big drug lord’s dirty work by moving illicit packages across the river that marks the border between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
“It is so exciting what’s happening there and in that [whole] region,” concludes Bogutskaya. “So we’re definitely keeping an eye on that part of the world.”
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