Qaitadan heads to Imagine in Amsterdam
Duman Erkimbek’s film joins the festival programme, with screenings scheduled for October 31 and November 5.
Duman Erkimbek’s Qaitadan is part of the Imagine Film Festival programme in Amsterdam. The official film page lists two screenings at FilmHallen 2: October 31 at 11:00 and November 5 at 21:40, local time. Tickets and any schedule changes are available from the organisers.
A summer that starts again
The story follows Rauan, a teenager sent to his grandmother’s village. What begins as an unwelcome summer turns into a disaster and an unexpected chance to experience events again. Coming-of-age storytelling meets a time loop and a dam-break catastrophe.
Kazakh cinema at Imagine
Imagine runs from October 29 to November 8, 2026. Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Turgaud also features in the programme, offering another opportunity to explore how Kazakh stories work within genre cinema.
Qaitadan screens in Kazakh with English subtitles.
What is Imagine?
Imagine dates back to 1984, when it began as The Weekend of Terror. It grew into the Netherlands’ largest festival for fantastic cinema, spanning horror, science fiction, fantasy and films that cross genre boundaries. It celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2024. That specialisation matters: unusual premises and the possibilities of genre sit at the heart of its programme.
The festival connects new films with cinema history. Its anniversary strand, 1984 Re:Imagined, included Michael Radford’s 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Visual-effects pioneer Phil Tippett, whose credits include Star Wars, Jurassic Park and RoboCop, was the guest of honour. Screenings sit alongside conversations about the craft of building imaginary worlds.
For Qaitadan, this is a fitting setting: its time loop and disaster premise join films that use the fantastic to explore human experience. An international screening places its Kazakh village and coming-of-age story within a wider conversation about genre.
Sources
Imagine — Qaitadan, screenings and film information
