Politics and Cinema: Divergence in Post-Soviet Central Asian Film

Discussion on Kazakh Cinema

Introduction: Peter Rollberg, Director, IERES, GWU

Kazakh Cinema in an Historical Perspective: from Perestroika to Post-Borat Time
Jean Radvanyi, Professor, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Cultures, Paris, France

Politics and Cinema: Divergence in Post-Soviet Central Asian Film
Michael Rouland, co-editor of Cinema in Central Asia: Rewriting Cultural Histories (I.B.Tauris, 2013)

Film Screening (7:00-8:30 pm)- Killer (1998), by Darezhan Omirbaev
Winner of the ‘Un Certain Regard Award’ at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan’s film industry has experienced major changes along with the rest of a Kazakh society. Through movies, Kazakh film-makers have been able to explore the new dimensions of their society and begin to create a new cultural history. This event will be a discussion on Kazakh cinema and its role in Kazakh society as it reexamines past events and their narratives. We will then be showing Killer, Darzehan Omirbaev’s award winning film.