Gabit, a physics teacher and father of five, is struggling to make ends meet when he happens upon a bag containing a large sum of cash buried in the snow-covered field outside his apartment building. Suddenly his life becomes comfortable, with him repaying bank loans and treating his family to expensive meals and gifts. But anxiety over where the money came from soon begins to weigh on him. Yerlan Nurmukhambetov, whose film The Walnut Tree won the 2015 BIFF New Currents Award and whose other film The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time opened BIFF in 2019, takes on the lead role himself in the film. The snow-covered landscape of Astana sharply contrasts with Gabit’s unease, while the film shows with restrained pacing how an unexpected stroke of luck can upend an ordinary life. With dry humor, this clever film weaves an ordinary breadwinner’s predicament with the suspense and tension of a crime thriller, raising questions about money, human nature, and happiness. Just how much will that lucky find in the snow ultimately cost him? (CHAE Kyeong Hoon)