Kyrgyz Bride Abductions on Front Page of The New York Times
As the Kyrgyz sayin goes, "Every good marriage begins in tears." On Saturday, April 30, The New York Times' front page featured a fascinating article about the resurgent, often violent Kygryz custom of bride kidnapping, that helps explain this saying...

Among journalist Craig. S. Smith's primary sources, cited in the article, was the First Run/Icarus Films New Release BRIDE KIDNAPPING IN KYRGYZSTAN by Petr Lom. This is the first film to document this custom, from the violent seizures on city streets and the tearful protests of the women, who are physically restrained and persuaded to accept their fate by the women of the groom's family, to the often tense negotiations between the respective families, and either the eventual acquiescence or continued refusal of the young women. Subsequent interviews with the kidnapped brides, their families as well as their in-laws' families-sensitively conducted by the film's Kyrgyz Associate Producer, Fatima Sartbaeva-reveal both the deep cultural roots of the tradition as well as growing rejection of it in this newly independent and rapidly modernizing society.