Ayka

A young Kyrgyz woman named Ayka lives and illegally works in Moscow. After giving birth to a baby she escapes from the hospital abandoning a newborn child. She suffers from malaise and post-pregnancy complications. Ayka borrowed money she couldn't afford from dangerous men to open a clothing factory and now struggles to earn enough to pay her debts. She's desperate for any job but expired work permit, proves nearly impossible to get an employment. At an underground processing facility she plucking a chicken but workers are not paid. At cafeteria where Ayka worked before labor, she's been replaced by another girl. She lost job of a waitress being late for an interview due to bleeding and general weakness. Finally, she finds a part-time job as a cleaner in a veterinary clinic. Also film demonstrates terrible living conditions in illegal hostel where migrants sleep in constant fear of deportation.

Creditors find Ayka and demand their money back, threatening to cut off her sister’s fingers in Kyrgyzstan. During one of the meetings, she confesses about recent birth of a son, specifying that she's became pregnant as a result of rape. They offer to take her child in order to settle her debts.

• Samal Yeslyamova as Ayka
• Polina Severnaya as administrator at the hospital
• Andrey Kolyadov as Victor, the chief

• List of submissions to the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Kazakhstani submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

• Ayka on IMDb