Summer Cinema IPN Prague: Emergency Signal

Russia circumvents Western sanctions partly through cooperation with Central Asian countries - Kyrgyzstan serves as a transit hub for goods from China destined for Central Asia and Russia, and as a transshipment point for goods from countries with which Putin is officially forbidden to trade. Investigative journalist Ali Toktakunov spent years exposing these trade networks through his work at the Kyrgyz service of Radio Free Europe.

Toktakunov became an inconvenient figure in the eyes of the ruling establishment - he refused an offer of a million dollars to stay silent. His wife Samara Sagynbaeva, who is also the director of this film, came under threat as well. Facing intimidation, both fled their homeland and now live under protection in the Czech Republic.

This documentary portrait captures a journalist under pressure and serves as a warning about the fragility of democracy and justice in a country where freedom of speech is not guaranteed.