WORSHIP THE FIRE (1972)

Kyrgyzstan, the 1920s. In a remote mountain village, against the will of the local elites and in defiance of centuries-old traditions, a woman—Urkuya Salieva—is elected chair of the agricultural cooperative. Salieva is determined to build a new life with an uncompromising resolve against anyone who would obstruct the poor, a stance unusual for a woman.