I LIT THE FIRE
SYNOPSIS
The film brings together two people — an immigrant filmmaker from Belarus and a 10-yearold girl from a southern village in Kyrgyzstan. Through fragments of their lives, they discover invisible threads connecting their fears, hopes, and longing for home.
Balearic premiere. With the presence of the director.
Why must you see it?
A poetic and playful perspective finds, in childhood, a way to approach a story that could well be the director’s own. The film establishes a delicate dialogue with its protagonist and, through an almost ethereal black-and-white aesthetic, creates a dreamlike texture. The subtle, precise sound design expands this universe with layers of laughter, play, nature, and wind, while the mother’s voice—emanating from elsewhere—introduces the harshness of a reality lurking in the background. It is a film that relies on the sensitivity of its form to bring together memory, childhood, and that which is difficult to name.
Andrea Guzmán
Valeria Lemeshevskaya
Valeria Lemeshevskaya (b. 1993, Belarus) is a filmmaker and film educator based in Bishkek, working in documentary and experimental cinema. Her feature I Lit the Fire! won the Grand Prize for Best Film at Punto de Vista 2026 and received an Honourable Mention at Doclisboa 2025.
Year: 2025
Country: Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan
Length: 60 min
Language: Kyrgyz, Russia
Subtitles: English & Spanish
Director: Valeria Lemeshevskaya
Producers: Siyavush Gafarov
Nurbek Daiyrbekov
Editing: Valeria Lemeshevskaya
