Mergen
Мерген

Set in a decaying post-Soviet town in the Tian Shan mountains, Mergen follows Nurtai, a young investigator drawn into a murky case surrounding the death of a local hunter. In a place where survival depends on illegal gold mining and poaching, his search leads him to Kerim, a powerful figure orchestrating illicit hunts for wealthy tourists. As Nurtai digs deeper, unsettling visions begin to haunt him, blurring the line between inherited trauma and something more otherworldly.

Inspired by the ancient Kyrgyz legend of Kozhozhash, the film reimagines the tale through a contemporary lens, where greed no longer belongs to a lone hunter but to a system driven by profit and exploitation. Kerim’s ambition to reopen an abandoned mine on sacred land transforms personal crime into a broader act of ecological and spiritual violence.

Shot against the stark landscapes of Kyrgyzstan, Mergen captures the realities of remote communities shaped by the collapse of the Soviet era. A slow-burning mystical thriller, it explores humanity’s fragile moral boundaries and our often predatory relationship with nature, where the land itself seems to watch, remember, and respond.

In the presence of filmmaker Chingiz Narynov.

CHINGIZ NARYNOV
Chingiz Narynov studied at Saint Petersburg State University of Film and Television and later at the Documentary Film Center at George Washington University, participating in the International Fellowship for Emerging Filmmakers in 2008. He is the co-founder of Citylab production studio. His films include the documentary Metal Bread (2014) which was selected by IDFA and After the Rain (2019). His latest film Mergen celebrated its international premiere at IFFR 2026.

Supporting film:
A SOUTH FACING WINDOW
Урагшаа харсан цонх
PUREV-OCHIR Lkhagvadulam, France, Mongolia 2025, 19 Min, Color, OVES
World sales Short/Cuts

Fri Apr 24, 2026 | 21:00
Stadtkino
Red Lotus 2026

Buy ticket

Kyrgyzstan 2025
105 Min | Color | Kyrgyz and Russian with English subtitles

Directed by Chingiz NARYNOV

Mergen © Citylab Films