We Live Here

In the desolate Kazakh steppe, which once served as a Soviet nuclear test site, three generations confront its haunting legacy and reflect on humanity’s fragile bond with the environment and the future.

Set in the stark expanse of the Kazakh steppe, this documentary explores life at a former Soviet nuclear test site. Three generations of families confront the enduring consequences of massive destruction, striving to maintain hope and dignity amid the lasting scars. As ecologists chart out uninhabitable areas, local residents are left to cope with the aftermath of 456 nuclear tests, grappling with radioactive contamination and its legacy of suffering. Their deep, sacred connection to the land becomes a powerful metaphor for a world teetering on the brink of its own nuclear peril.

Programme section: Docs Open Debates / East of East / New Female Voices / Focus: Grief
Original Title: Atameken | Year: 2025 | Duration: 80′
Country: Kazakhstan | Language: Kazakh, Russian | Subtitles: English
Director: Zhanana Kurmasheva | Production: Banu Ramazanova – Plan B | Screenplay: Zhanana Kurmasheva | Cinematography: Kuanysh Kurmanbayev | Editing: Aidan Serik | Sound: Ilya Gariyev

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

CPH:DOX, 2025 – World Premiere (DOX:AWARD Competition) | Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2025 – North American Premiere | DOK.fest München, 2025 – DOK.horizonte Competition – Cinema of Urgency | DOKer Moscow International Documentary Film Festival

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Zhanana Kurmasheva is a Kazakh director with a focus on documentary filmmaking. She holds a BA and MA in Film Directing from the Kazakh National Academy of Arts. She has participated in numerous international workshops and training programs, including the East-West Talent Lab at the 2022 goEast Film Festival. Her debut feature-length documentary, “We Live Here” (2024), has been supported by the Berlinale Doc Toolbox Program, Eurasia Doc Script Development Residency, GZDOC, and Tokyo Docs, where it won Best Pitch. She is the laureate of the Kulaguer 2011 award for her student documentary “I Am 20 Years Old!”. Her short documentary “Zhenya” (2013) was showcased at numerous international film festivals and received acclaim for its nuanced storytelling. Her work reflects a profound engagement with social issues and cultural identity, establishing her as a rising voice in Kazakh documentary cinema.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Some places on Earth carry a weight that is almost impossible to put into words. I remember driving to a wintering ground in the middle of the Semipalatinsk Test Site. The sunset was breathtaking, its brilliance contrasting sharply with the stories of devastation tied to this land. I looked at the dry, scarred earth and felt pity for all it had endured. But then, as the light painted the steppe in fiery hues, a thought struck me: this land will outlast us all. It has survived explosions, poison, and neglect. It endures, unmoved by human arrogance, its grandeur reminding us of our insignificance. That moment helped me understand why people refuse to leave. For them, this is not just home – it is atameken (in Kazakh, “homeland”), sacred ground that bears witness to their shared history. The land remembers what it has endured and what they have endured. They have suffered together and remain bound by mutual resilience.