CENTRAL ASIAN CINEMA

— "In the early Nineties a hitherto blind spot on the world cinema map seemingly all of a sudden became one of its most colorful regions: Central Asia, a former outpost of the Russian Empire, in both its monarchical and Soviet incarnations. The region’s several distinct film cultures, particularly Kazakhstan, seemed to have struck a chord with audiences on the international film festival circuit. Full of mythical places whose mere names conjured lavish and ancient images of a bustling multicultural world of plenty – Tashkent, Buchara, Samarkand, and the all-encompassing Silk Road, symbol of East-West exchange and the possibilities of fruitful cultural coexistence – perhaps this new territory appealed to Western viewers’ inner Lawrence. And it fitted in with the Nineties fascination with Asian cinema – even if, as with Iran, Western viewers didn’t see it in those terms. Moreover, Central Asia seemed so remote and otherworldly and so seemingly lacking in noteworthy political currency that its different cinemas could be enjoyed free from any historical burden. You could watch the films as films – what a relief after the propaganda-laden days of Soviet cinema! Perhaps this tabula rasa impulse explains why so many of the films that have been justly celebrated, like Darezhan Omirbaev’s Kardiogram (‘95) or Serik Aprymov’s The Last Stop (‘89), are modest, (neo)realist works that play in a somewhat abstract semi-imaginary realm that recalls ascetic realists like Ozu, Bresson, et al., while some of the region’s finest masterpieces, like Ardak Amirkulov’s The Fall of Otrar (‘91), a historical epic steeped in Kazakh history, have never received the international recognition they deserve. That said, Central Asia’s contemporary auteurs rarely touch upon political subjects.

Central Asia consists of five independent states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. During the Soviet era the region was also known as Middle Asia, excluding Kazakhstan, which, due to the resettlement of millions of Russians and Germans was at once the region’s largest republic and the one in which the nominal nationality was actually a minority. A third, less political, more cultural definition of Central Asia would also include Afghanistan and China’s western-most province, Xinjiang, where many Kazakhs live" (WIND FROM THE STEPPES: A Brief History of Central Asian Cinema during the Soviet Era by Olaf Möller).

KAZAKHSTAN
KELIN / Ermek Tursunov
JULY / Darezhan Omirbaev
TULPAN / Sergei Dvortsevoy
KAIRAT / Darezhan Omirbaev
KARDIOGRAMMA / Darezhan Omirbaev
CHOUGA / Darezhan Omirbaev
THE FALL OF OTRAR / Ardak Amirkulov
THE LAST STOP / Serik Aprimov
LAST HOLIDAY / Amir Karakulov
DON’T CRY / Amir Karakulov
THE NEEDLE / Rashid Nugmanov
VOCAL PARALLELS / Rustam Khamdamov


KYRGYSTAN
THE SWING / Aktan Abdikalikov
THE DOG WAS WALKING BY / Aktan Abdikalikov
MY BROTHER SILK ROAD / Marat Sarulu
THE FIERCE ONE/ Tolomush Okeev
THE SHEPHERD / Bolotbek Shamshiev

TAJIKISTAN
THE FLIGHT OF THE BEE / Djamshed Usmonov
ANGEL ON THE RIGHT / Djamshed Usmonov
BROTHER / Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov
KOSH BA KOSH / Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov
THE TIME OF YELLOW GRASS / Mairam Yusupova
FACE / Mairam Yusupova

TURKMENISTAN
THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW / Khodjakuli Narliev
LITTLE ANGEL, BRING ME JOY / Usman Saparov


UZBEKISTAN
WITHOUT FEAR / Ali Khamraev
MAN FOLLOWS BIRDS / Ali Khamraev
BO BA BU / Ali Khamraev
THE MYSTERY OF FERNS / Rachid Malikov
TENDERNESS / Elyer Ishmukhamedov
TAKHIR AND ZUKHRA / Nabi Ganiev
ORATOR / Yusup Razikov
BOYS IN THE SKY / Zoulfikar Musakov