ÁGA
Drama – 2019 – Bulgaria – 96 Minutes – Big World Pictures – In Yakut with English Subtitles – Unrated
In a yurt on the snow-covered fields of the North, Nanook and Sedna live following the traditions of their ancestors. Alone in the wilderness, they look like the last people on Earth. Nanook and Sedna’s traditional way of life starts changing — slowly, but inevitably. Hunting becomes more and more difficult, the animals around them die from inexplicable deaths and the ice has been melting earlier every year. Chena, who visits them regularly, is their only connection to the outside world — and to their daughter Ága, who has left the icy tundra a long time ago due to family feud. When Sedna’s health deteriorates, Nanook decides to fulfill her wish. He embarks on a long journey in order to find Ága.
Written & Directed by Milko Lazarov
A winning combination of the cozily intimate and the sublimely epic. – The Hollywood Reporter
A small gem of focused filmmaking, Ága tells a minimal story so beautifully it holds us completely. – Los Angeles Times
Milko Lazarov seems driven to record the inner workings of a singular slice of Inuit culture before it goes the way of the reindeer. – Slate
The screenplay’s simplicity is enriched by memorable images whose stillness adds to the overall aura of a period coming to an end. – Variety
The slice of life story has the look and feel of a documentary work and, as it immersed me in Nanook and Sedna’s daily struggle, I felt I was living it with them…A mysterious, stunning, melancholy tale about a disappearing way of life, one being corrupted by humankind’s progression…”Ága” goes to the ends of the earth to reveal global truths. – Reeling Reviews
While much of the film quietly observes details in this white-on-white place, filmmaker Milko Lazarov gently allows a story to unfold in ways that almost silently convey the weight of the world. It’s an transcendental movie that isn’t easy to shake. – Shadows on the Wall
It is the singularly most informative film I can think of that came out this year. Ága is representative of the way we forget our own histories. – Film Inquiry