My Dear Kyrgyzstan

Jyrgalan is a remote village nestled in the mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan. It was once a thriving mining community, but was abandoned after the Soviet Union collapsed. Despite its dwindling population and his children’s protests, Emil Ibakov moved back to Jyrgalan, his hometown, after feeling called back. There, he set out on an unlikely one-man social media campaign to lure tourists to its stellar backcountry lines and uncrowded mountain terrain, setting the wheels in motion for changes that not everyone was prepared for.