Given that I’ve just won a trip back to the United States for this blog, it seems somewhat fitting that my next Kyrgyzstani Movie Night should be for one of the most famous and charming movies to come out of Kyrgyzstan in the past few years: Salam, New York!

As someone who used to live in New York, people often bring this film up to me, both when I mention the United States but also when I mention the places that I’ve lived.  And that’s with good reason: the film is the highest grossing Kyrgyzstani film ever made (which is amazing given that it was supposedly made on a budget of just $100,000 USD, of which probably half was spent on plane tickets and lodging alone).  Perhaps even cooler: in a country where film piracy is rampant and nobody pays the copyright holders for movies and music, the government’s Patent office actually stepped in to prosecute the pirates.  While I love free stuff, paying copyright holders for their work is especially important in order to encourage additional filmmakers and artists from Kyrgyzstan to continue their work.  If I had the chance to pay money to own this film with English subtitles, you can bet I would buy it.  Slightly related: the Patent office also stepped in to shut down the fake TGI Friday’s in Bishkek, which has since reopened as München Pub (with the same sign, just different letters).

Anyway, back to the movie… this film (which jumps between Kyrgyz, Russian, and English – and I unfortunately have yet to find a version with English subtitles) tells the story of a young man named Batyr who moves to New York with a dream (just like I did), and begins working as a dishwasher (which is a common job for many people who emigrate from Kyrgyzstan to New York).  His eventual goal is to get a master’s degree from Columbia University, a big leap.  As New York does, it inspires him at the same time as it challenges him, and as we tend to do in NYC, he meets someone…

Take a look at the trailer (which is also in a mixture of languages):

The film runs 100 minutes and can be found on YouTube and at specialty video stores.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a version of the film with English subtitles, but some of the versions on YouTube have subtitles in Russian (as most films here do).

Let me know what you think in the comments!