吉尔吉斯式绑嫁

The first film ever to document the ancient custom of bride kidnapping which is a common way of marrying in Kyrgyzstan, one of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia. 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 that will 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. Here the kidnappings are merely playful rituals. In many other cases however, the bride does not want to marry her suitor, or has never even met him before she is kidnapped. Recent studies estimate that about half of all marriages in Kyrgyzstan today are conducted through kidnapping, and that in half of these cases a woman is forced into a marriage against her will. This documentary follows the dramatic stories of four of non-consensual kidnappings.