Strawberry Princess

Alma-Ata, 1991. A teenager raised by a strict father decides to watch an erotic film, but a forbidden tape suddenly gets stuck in a VCR. A boy in the face of an ordeal requiring firm measures. The story of family, love and youth... in the era of VHS and the collapse of the USSR.

  • Iliyas Antar Akhmet
    Director
  • Iliyas Antar Akhmet
    Writer
  • Bakyt Zhumadilova
    Producer
  • Dulyga Akmolda
    Key Cast
    "Marat"
  • Dina Tasbulatova
    Key Cast
    "Gulzhan"
  • Kambar Nurgali
    Key Cast
    "Galym"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Клубничная Принцесса
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    35 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Kazakhstan
  • Country of Filming:
    Kazakhstan
  • Language:
    Kazakh, Russian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Iliyas Antar Akhmet

ILIYAS ANTAR AKHMET
Director, Producer, Writer, Artist

2023
“Strawberry Princess” (Drama / Comedy)
Short Feature Film
> Director, Writer

2018-2022
48 Hour Film Race
Central Asian Short Film Competition
> Selector

2019
“Atbai's Fight” (Drama)
Feature Film
Dir. A. Yerzhanov
> Actor

2018-2019
Almighty (Comedy)
Web Series
Dir. Yerden Telemissov
> Producer, Writer

* “Best Idea” award at the International Web Series Festival “Realist Web Fest”, (Russia); “Ak Mergen” PR award for “Best Marketing Communications” (Kazakhstan).
2017

“Indivisible” (action thriller / comedy)
Feature Film
Dir. O. Akhmetov
> Producer, Songwriter, Artist

* Nominee “Best Song / Soundtrack” at “Critics’ Choice Awards”,
Film Critics Association of Kazakhstan

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

“Love, youth, VHS… and the last summer of the Soviet Union”. Those were the main thematic points when I started working on the story turned into a short fiction film “Strawberry Princess”.

A directing debut which became symbolic for me in many ways. For example, not only as a new step in filmmaking, but also as a gratitude to the parents who went through the difficult period of the 90s. At the same time, as a bright story about the youthful adventures with a particle of personal experience. And, of course, about the love for cinema due to the strong VHS impressions.

Despite the total crisis of 1991, film transmits a warm look into the past of my country. Touching the bygone era where the same themes we face today are painfully throbbing: “family integrity”, “personality becoming”, “anxiety about the future”, “consequences of war ", “first love”, “second chance” and, of course, “wings of youth” …

The ironic situation with the videotape reveals a dramatic story about a family experiencing the loss of a loved one. On the one hand, the father is a military man, hardened and guilt-stricken by his past on the fields of war, and on the other hand, the young son, feeling fear, resentment and love for his father.

Their tense relationship is the psychological core of the story which unfolds on the eve of turning historical events in the latter days of the USSR... and told now – from the perspective of modern Kazakhstan.

Iliyas Antar Akhmet
Director, Writer