Since his days of making short films, filmmaker, Aktan Abdykalykov has preferred autobiographical tales as his main subject. His experience as an adolescent takes a significant place in his world of film. The Adopted Son is a coming-of-age film of a boy who discovers he had been adopted. Set in a small village in Kyrgyzstan, Beshkempir is a mischievous boy who slowly develops curiosity in sex like any other normal child. One day, he runs away from home after a close friend reveals to Beshkempir that he was adopted. But when his grandmother who loved him dearly dies, he returns home to where he reconfirms his place within the family. With the help of his girlfriend Aynura, he becomes a normal boy again. Aktan Abdykalykov paints a realistic portrait of children in the process of growing up, combined with the fantastic beauty of Krygyzstan, creating a universal subject that unravels through the local setting of Krygyzstan. (Kim Ji-Seok)