Shig was made in Bishkek, where Gluklya began long-term research in 2021 into the working and psychological conditions of garment workers. This research addresses the systemic exploitation of sewing workers in the city, who are underpaid, chronically overworked, and largely excluded from labour protections, shared spaces, and the possibility of collective organisation. Beyond physical exhaustion, Shig foregrounds the psychological effects of isolation, precarity, and the demand for constant productivity imposed by the neoliberal garment industry.
In the film, the garment industry unfolds as a metaphor for society at large — soaked in extractive, toxic capitalism. It calls for a slowing down of productivity and invites reflection on alternative rituals through which such slowing might become possible.
Alongside real sewing workers — some of whom chose to remain anonymous — Shig features the renowned Kyrgyz actress Gulmira Tursunbaeva, as well as artists and activists from the Bisca group. Together, they inhabit a fragile space between fiction and reality, where voices usually separated are allowed to speak, gather, and momentarily breathe together.
Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya