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with director Zhanna Issabayeva in person In this sharp, socially aware comedy a Kazakh  mother tries to collect enough money from her four older children so that her youngest son can also get married. Please RSVP.

with director Zhanna Issabayeva in person "Heartrending is too mild a word to describe "Nagima," an unblinking look at the vulnerable social position of single women in Kazakhstan. Zhanna Issabayeva depicts her protags' economic and emotional deprivations with a somberness that builds to a shocking, stupendous finale." - Maggie Lee   Please RSVP.

Central Asia is s a Muslim-majority region, though what that means for social and political life is contested. Discussing the argument of his recent book, Practicing Islam: Knowledge, Experience, and Social Navigation in Kyrgyzstan, Montgomery will focus on how the social context of knowledge acquisition influences religious and cultural practice. Seeing this process of "becoming" Muslim… Continue reading David Montgomery – Becoming Muslim in an Islamic Land: Social Navigation and Religious Change in Kyrgyzstan

Winner of the Silver Lion Prize in the 1993 Venice Film Festival "The film tells a romantic love story, happening against the background of Civil War in Tajikistan (1993-1996). Curfews, bursts of tracer bullets piercing the night and the love story - seem like incompatible things . . . in an amazing way, this film… Continue reading Cinema Club Film Screening: Kosh Ba Kosh (Tajikistan, 1993)

Directed by Ermek Tursunov"Kelin, which translates to 'daughter-in-law', tells the story of a young woman living in the 2nd century A.D. in Kazakhstan, a setting in which traditional notions of womanhood and family life at the time are explored. Directed entirely without dialogue and with very little music, the film revolves around the young and beautiful… Continue reading Cinema Club Film Screening: Daughter-in-Law (Kazakhstan, 2009)