In a Tadjik village lives a strange family : the father, Safar, is a widower raising his children alone. The son, Nasreddin, remains traumatized forever by the Afghanistan war ; the daughter, Mamlakat, dreams of becoming an actress... One night, she impregnated by a mysterious and enthralling presence... Her pregnancy is looked on very unfavourably in the village. Safar and Nasreddin decide to scour all the theatres of the region in search of the child's father...

It is no wonder that Luna Papa (Moon Father) won the grand prize at the Festival des Trois Continents last year. Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov's film is a pure delight mingling the surreal and poetical effervescence of Kusturica's cinema with a more sober and very touching observation of life in the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, where everything seems to be running wild in a complete lawless flurry while cultural traditions still retain their hold over individuals. That is why Mamlakat must find a father for her child and marry him for fear of banishment. Her quest for a husband becomes the greatest "theatre play" of her life, like a madcap caper where her rounded belly forebodes the birth of a smoother and less tormented era, but still full of surprises...

Robin Gatto