Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan
When a Kyrgyz man decides to marry, he often abducts the woman he has chosen. Typically, he takes several friends, hires a car, stakes out his bride-to-be’s movements, and snatches her off the street. The woman is taken to the groom’s family home.
A delegation is then sent to her family to inform them of the kidnapping. The abducted woman is kept until someone from her family arrives to determine whether she will marry her kidnapper.
The level of consent and the familiarity of the bride with the groom vary. Sometimes the kidnappings are consensual – the bride is engaged to the groom and agrees to the kidnapping. This documentary follows the dramatic stories of four of non-consensual kidnappings.
Directors
Petr Lom
Petr Lom was born in Prague in 1968, grew up in Canada, and is now based in The Netherlands with his Dutch wife Corinne van Egeraat. He received his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard and was Associate Professor at George Soros’ Central European University in human rights and philosophy. In 2003, he became an independent documentary director and producer specializing in human rights film. His award-winning films have been broadcast in over thirty countries and screened at more than two hundred and fifty film festivals around the world including Sundance and the Berlinale.