My Name Akim
Sat 14 Nov, 21:00Through Different Eyes
- Director
- Aleksandr Kim
- Country
- Germany
- Running time
- 30 Min.
Akim, a transgender man and political refugee, struggles with bureaucratic and social barriers in an initial reception center for asylum seekers. His wish to learn German is denied, as language courses are only available to officially recognized refugees. Unable to understand the language spoken around him, German reaches his ears as an incomprehensible stream of sounds — nothing but gibberish.
Fearing discrimination, Akim keeps his transgender identity hidden from his roommates and the other residents of the shelter. Relegated to the laundry room, he becomes increasingly trapped in a world of silence and isolation — until a young man named Kamil and a female intern gradually begin to break through his loneliness.
The story is based on the personal experiences of director and screenwriter Aleksandr Kim.
Aleksandr Kim
Aleksandr Kim was born in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 1983 and is of Korean descent. While still at school, he discovered his passion for storytelling and the performing arts through a local theater group. After graduating from high school in 2001, he studied law at Bishkek State University, earning his degree in 2006.
In 2004, he founded Central Asia's first LGBTQ+ organization, where he worked as a legal advisor and project coordinator until 2015. In 2008, he worked as a screenwriter and television presenter but was forced to give up this career because of his transgender identity. After working as a director and actor at the Gala Theatre "Creative Workshop" in Bishkek, he began studying film directing at VGIK, the Russian State University of Cinematography in Moscow, in 2016. However, he was forced to leave the program after several semesters, again because of his transgender identity.
In 2019, Aleksandr Kim fled to Germany and applied for political asylum. Since 2021, he has been studying film directing at the ifs International Film School Cologne. His film My Name Akim draws on experiences closely connected to his own life story.