Kazakhstani film Tulpan, in Kazakhand Russian with English subtitles, may not be of the fantasy or adventure genre but you're nonetheless transported to another world.

A dry, isolated world in southern Kazakhstan known as the ``Hunger Steppe'', which is inhabited by few shepherds braving the harsh weather in their makeshift yurts.

Tulpan is the first Kazakhstani film I have ever seen; it is a moving, gentle and often funny glimpse of a life that I cannot imagine living.

The film tells the story of Asa (played by Askhat Kuchencherekov), a shy, eager-to-please former navy man who is seeking a bride so he may acquire his own flock of sheep.

Asa lives with his sister Samal and her husband Ondas and their three children.

His attempts to woo the only single woman left in the area, Tulpan - who is never seen in the film - are hilarious, as is his bubbly, porn-loving sidekick Boni.

Boni drives a water tractor and has a toothy grin constantly plastered to his face as he bops along to his favourite tune, By The Rivers of Babylon.

Tulpan and her mother, in particular, are unimpressed by Asa's seafaring tales and his, apparently, big ears.

The film highlights the simple yet hard life Asa and his family live, ruled by the endless plains and their reliance on livestock.

It is in the simple things, like Samal preparing food by hand and Asa helping a sheep give birth, which allow director/writer Sergei Dvortsevoy to paint a most poignant picture.

Dvortsevoy shoots Tulpan in a documentary-style fashion, heightening its realism and transcending one's sense of normal.

It is truly something different, likeable, genuine and completely foreign - just the thing that cinema, at its best, is made of.

*Tulpan has won awards in the 2008 Cannes, Zurich, Tokyo and London International Film Festivals, and won best film in the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.