‘Sicko’ Brings Kazakhstan’s Viral Crime Thriller to Grimmfest

A fake illness, a viral fundraising campaign and a young couple willing to push their deception far beyond the point of no return sit at the centre of Sicko, the Kazakh thriller from Aitore Zholdaskali that will receive its Northern UK premiere at Grimmfest next weekend.

The film screens at Odeon Great Northern in Manchester on Friday 9 October, bringing one of the more provocative titles on this year’s programme to UK audiences after a release that became both a box-office success and a major cultural talking point in Kazakhstan.

Sicko follows Azamat and Tansholpan, a cash-strapped couple in Almaty whose debts have reached breaking point. With help from a crooked lab assistant, they fake a terminal illness and launch a crowdfunding campaign for supposedly life-saving treatment.

The scheme works far better than expected. Donations pour in, public sympathy grows and the couple suddenly find themselves benefiting from the attention they had only intended to exploit temporarily. But their new visibility also brings unwanted consequences, with criminal figures entering the picture and the pressure of maintaining the lie pushing them towards increasingly ruthless decisions.

Directed by Zholdaskali from a screenplay by Aldiyar Zhaparkhanov and Kazybek Orazbek, the film stars Ayan Utepbergen, Dilnaz Kurmangali and Azat Zhumadil.

Grimmfest has described the film as a darkly comic examination of influencer culture, social media grifting, medical corruption and greed, noting the way it gradually shifts from satire into something much harsher as its central characters become increasingly consumed by self-preservation.

That change of tone also reflects the wider social concerns underpinning the film. Zholdaskali has spoken about the pressures surrounding money, status and gender expectations in Kazakhstan, as well as the ease with which manipulation and opportunism can become normalised when success is measured by what someone can get away with.

The film first opened in Kazakhstan in November 2025 and later screened in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam in February 2026.

Its domestic release was surrounded by controversy. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture demanded last-minute edits and raised its age rating from 18+ to 21+, restricting screenings to late-night hours. Despite those limitations, Sicko reportedly topped the local box office in its opening week making ?517 million, while social media discussion around the film quickly expanded into wider debate about fraud, trust and the exploitation of public sympathy. For Zholdaskali, Sicko marks his debut as a solo feature director following earlier work on the web series Sheker and other screen projects.

Sicko receives its Northern UK premiere at Grimmfest 2026 at Odeon Great Northern, Manchester, on Friday 9 October at 10.45pm. For more information and tickets, visit: grimmfest.com/

Sicko trailer