Spanning nearly nine decades from the 1930s to the present, THE ROAD TO MOTHER is a sweeping yet personal epic that follows several generations of a Kazakh family that is determined to stay united through war, famine, collectivization, and separation. Focusing on a young man who is torn away from his mother by upheaval of war, he is forced to endure harrowing experiences from childhood into adulthood without her to protect him. Kazakhstan’s official...

"Born in China's north-western province, Sayragul Sauytbay trained as a doctor before being appointed a senior civil servant. But her life was upended when the Chinese authorities incarcerated her. Her crime: being Kazakh, one of China's ethnic minorities. The north-western province borders the largest number of foreign nations and is the point in China that is closest to Europe. In recent years it has become home to over 1,200 penal camps--modern-day...

"Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. To her neighbors' surprise, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take their 30 boisterous camels, 500 sheep and over 100 cattle and horses to pasture for the winter. The so-called 'winter pasture' occurs in a remote region that stretches from the Ulungur River to the...