Gingerbread for her dad (Пряники для ее отца, моего прадеда, ее деда)

85-year-old Lyabiba doesn’t remember her dad, who died in World War II. At that time, some Soviet soldiers’ widows were given “consolation” gingerbread for their kids. Lyabiba still remembers the joy of receiving it during starvation years. Lyabiba’s daughter and granddaughter decide to find a mass grave in Poland where Lyabiba’s dad was buried. Three generations go from Kazakhstan to Poland, not only to search for physical remains, but also to restore the lost connection between themselves. They confront post-colonial Soviet traumas and search for a sense of home and lost identity of Kazakhs.

Alina Mustafina is a Kazakh journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She holds filmmaking degrees from Kazakhstan, UAE, and Spain, and is an alumna of New York Film Academy (USA), Film Labs with Doha Film Institute (Qatar), and KAFA (South Korea), among others. Her short documentary, ANDER, received Best Documentary Film in Qatar at Ajyal Film Festival in 2020. GINGRBREAD FOR HER DAD received a post-production grant from Cinedoc Tbilisi and premiered at Busan International Film Festival and Torino Film Festival in 2024. It won Best Film Award at Iran International Film Festival.

  • Lyabiba Sermukhamedova, Alina Mustafina, Alissa Mustafina
  • Alina Mustafina
  • Alina Mustafina
  • Yerkezhan Maksut, Akzhol-Bi Sarsenbayev
  • 2024
  • English
  • Kazakhstan
  • 76 minutes
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About Asian American International Film Festival

Since 1978, the Asian American International Film Festival, produced by Asian CineVision, is the nation’s first and longest running festival of its kind and the premier showcase for the best Asian independent and Asian American cinema. AAIFF is committed to film and media as a tool for social change and to the support of diversity and inclusion in independent cinema and the Asian American media arts.