cinema – Central Asia Program

The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925 – 1991: An Uneasy Legacy

The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925 – 1991: An Uneasy Legacy This monograph by Peter Rollberg, Elliott School Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Research Initiatives and Professor of Slavic Languages,… Continue reading The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925 – 1991: An Uneasy Legacy

Cinema Club Film Screening: The Rhythm (Uzbekistan, 2014)

Directed by Nozim Tulahodjaev This featured film tells the fate of a talented Uzbek musician who plays ‘doira’ (a musical instrument). As his life runs its course, Sharif-aka is exposed to… Continue reading Cinema Club Film Screening: The Rhythm (Uzbekistan, 2014)

Safarbek Soliev – Film Screening: “Komil”

A documentary film about the founder of Tajik and Uzbek cinematography, Komil Yormatov, with introductory remarks by director Safarbek Soliev. Please RSVP. Presented in partnership with Asia-Plus.

Cinema Club Film Screening: The Light Thief

Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat (Kyrgyzstan, 2010) The main hero of the film is an electrician with a far greater effect on the people around him than his job defines.… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: Tulpan

Directed by Sergei Dvortsovoi (Kazakhstan, 2009) On the steppes of Kazakhstan, Asa lives in a yurt with his sister Samal, her husband Ondas, and their three children. Ondas is a… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: The Orator

Directed by Yusuf Razykov (Uzbekistan, 1999) A historical drama. The meetings and marches of the Red Revolution change the life of the poor Iskander. Because he knows Russian, he becomes an… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: Luna Papa

Directed by Bakhtiyar Khudhoinazarov (Tajikistan, 1999) The unborn child of Mamlakat (Khamatova) is telling her story. She is 17, beautiful and vivacious, and dreaming secretly of becoming an actress. She… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: Daughter in law

Directed by Khodjakuli Narliev (Turkmenistan, 1972) A woman whose husband has been killed in WWII lives with her father-in-law in the desert. She cannot leave and go back to her family,… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: White Mountains

Directed by Melis Ubukeev (Kyrgyzstan, 1964) Mukash is chased by officials, learns of the devastation of war from a blind woman and helps her daughter to freedom beyond the river… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: You Are Not an Orphan

Directed by Shukrat Abbasov (Uzbekistan, 1963) The film is a touching story about an Uzbek family who gave shelter to 14 children evacuated during the World War II while their own… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: The Story of the Weeping Camel

Directed by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni (Mongolia, 2003) In Mongolia’s Gobi desert, a camel belonging to a group of nomadic shepherds gives birth to a white calf. It’s a… Continue reading Cinema Club Film Screening: The Story of the Weeping Camel

Cinema Club Film Screening: Beshkempir

Directed by Aktan Arym Kubat (Kyrgyzstan, 1998) Aktan Abdykalykov made his directorial debut with this semi-autobiographical Kirghizian-French drama set in a rural Kirghizian village where young Adyr plays in the… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: Aksuat

Written and directed by Serik Aprymov (Kazakhstan 1997) Aksuat is the name of a village in Kazakhstan, where Kanat takes his pregnant wife Zhanna to visit his brother, Aman. Just… Continue reading

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

Cinema Club Film Screening: Land of the Fathers

Directed by Shaken Aimanov (Kazakhstan, 1966) An old man decides to look for his dead son and bring his corpse back to bury him in the land of his ancestors;… Continue reading

Cinema Club Film Screening: Pure Coolness

Directed by Ernest Abdyjaparov (Kyrgyzstan, 2007) Asema gets engaged to Murat and the two go to Murat's hometown, where the traditional Kyrgyzstani culture remains. One day, Asema learns of a plan… Continue reading