Наше бремя\ The burden we bear
Aruzhan Dossymkozha / Central Asia – Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic / Kazakhstan / Kazakh, russian/ 12 minutes / 2022
The story is about the life of a mother. who lost her 4-year-old daughter during the protests in Kazakhstan in January 2022. After her death, the mother loses her mind and sometimes thinks that her daughter is still alive and she starts searching her every time again and again
Cast & Crew:
Cast – Madina Akylbekova
Crew – Dop Magzhan Adilshinov, Pd Aruzhan Mukash, Sound director Iliya Gariev, Edit Alen Kenemoldin
Director’s Bio
Aruzhan Dossymkozha is a 26 years old film director and producer from Kazakhstan, holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees in film directing.
She directed three short films — Aliya (2021), The Burden We Bear (2022), and About Mannequin (2023) — selected for international film festivals.
In 2021, she served as line producer and 1st AD on Madina by Aizhan Kassymbek, premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival (2023).
She produced her debut feature film Joqtau as a key producer, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2024 and had cinema theater release in Kazakhstan in 2025.
She has been an executive producer on the Kazakh scary tales series which premiered on the Freedom media streaming platform in 2025.
Aruzhan is currently finishing post-production on her second feature film Mugalim as a key producer.
She also teaches Producing at Turan Film Academy in Almaty.
Her work focuses on author-driven cinema for film and television.
