Her five lives
Essay by Saodat Ismailova – 14 min./2020.
Overview of the history of Uzbek cinema through the representation and transformation of heroines between 19025 and 2015. The film shows important changes in the state ideology parallel to the historical changes in the country and the development of local cinema – with an emphasis on how these of the female characters reflected this change.
Ulbolsyn
Feature film by Adilkhan Yerzhanov – KAZ / FR – 1h 11m / 2020.
Life in the village of Karatasi goes on calmly until the courageous Ulboysyn questions his patriarchal way of life.
Herself enjoying the freedom of the big city, she wants to save her little sister Azhar from marrying a much older man who has kidnapped her, even though Azhar herself accepts this marriage.
The Road To Eden
Feature film by Bakyt Nukul and Dastan Zhapar Uulu – KIR – 2020.
The retired writer is faced with the difficult decision of whether to use his property to either save his debt-ridden younger brother or his fellow like-minded younger writer who is struggling for his life in the hospital and who would carry on his intellectual legacy.
Shambala
Feature film by Artykpai Suyundukov – KIR – 86 min./2020.
With Artur Amanaliev, Nasret Dubashev, Talent Apyev, Jamilia Sydykbaeva, Taalaikan Abazova.
The film is based on the story “The White Ship” by Chingiz Aitmatov
Lake
Feature film by Emil Atangeldiyev – KIR/2020.
The story is based on an ancient Kyrgyz legend about ancestral spirits living in the form of fish in a sacred lake. This existential drama, an analogy about the heroes’ inner conflicts, freedom of choice, and their own paths unfolds against the background of the stunning landscape of the high mountain lake Issyk Kul.
The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time
Feature film by Yerlan Nurmukhambetov, Lisa Takeba. KAZ/Japan – 84min./2019
With Samal Yeslyamova, Madi Minaidarov, Moriyama Mirai , Dulyga Akmolda
An atmospheric film. The sound, which is largely based on the sounds of birds and other animals, underlines the loneliness of the Kazakh steppe and subtly emphasizes the restrained storytelling.
10 year old Olzha’s father is killed by horse thieves. The villagers blame his wife Aigal (Samal Yeslyamova) for this. A family secret is connected with her and the stranger Kairat, who happens to come back during the funeral.
Ayka – Drama
Feature film by Sergey Dvortsevoy – RU / DE / PL / KZ / CN – 100 min./2018.
With Samal Yeslyamova from Kazakhstan in the lead role.
The moving film tells the story of Ayka from Kyrgyzstan, who lives illegally in Moscow.
The secret of the leader / secret Lidera
Film by Farkhat Sharipov – KAZ – 97 min./2018.
With Dulyga Akmolda, Yerzhan Tusupov, Gulzhamal Kazakbayeva, Philip Voloshin.
Kanat is caught in his monotonous life. He is in his early forties, divorced and lives with his demented mother in the Kazakh capital of Almaty. In his job at a bank, he is stuck with no prospect of advancement in the middle management. When he happened to meet his ex-fellow student Daniyar again after a long time, the leaden monotony began to move. More details here:
The Gentle Indifference of the World
Film by Adilkhan Yerzhanov- KAZ / FR – 100 min./2018.
With Dinara Baktybayeva, Kuandyk Dussenbaev, Kulzhamilya Belzhanova.
After her father’s suicide, the young Saltanat is sent to the city, where her life is thrown out of joint. The hoped-for help from an uncle living there turns out to be deceptive. Your loyal friend Kuandyk, who accompanied Saltanat on the trip, is drifting more and more into entanglements and criminal circles while trying to raise money for the family.
Song of the Tree / Folklore musical from Kyrgyzstan
Film by Aibek Daiyrbekov- KIR / RU – 93 min./2018.
With Temirlan Smanbekov, Omurbek Izrailov, Saltanat Bakaeva, Jurduzbek Kaseivov, Taalaykan Abazova.
In the nomad village in front of a snow-covered mountain backdrop, people sing, dance, laugh, cook, ride around goat carcasses, hate and take revenge. The beautiful Begimai loves the hapless Esen. He languishes back. When the sacred tree of their homeland fell under the ax, disaster struck herds and nomads.
Centaur
Film by Aktan Arym Kubat- KIR- 86 min./2017.
With Abdykalykow, Aktan (Aktan Arym Kubat) in the lead role.
Against the dreamlike backdrop of the Kyrgyz mountains, the film shows a changing country. The mythical connection between humans and animals is becoming increasingly difficult to preserve. More details here:
40 Days of Silence
Film by Saodat Ismailova- UZ / TAD / NL / DE- 88 min./2014.
With Rushana Sadikova, Saodat Rahimova, Farida Olimovava.
Bibichas takes a vow of silence for 40 days and retires to her grandmother’s house. House and landscape offer Bibicha a distraction for the senses: the taste of honey, the surface structure of a wall, a colorful bedspread, the view of a sea of clouds, evaporating water. But Bibicha is not the only one under pressure: the aunt feverishly sends text messages, the grandmother ruefully agrees to reports of marital disputes on the radio and the little cousin is illegitimate. Four women, four generations, no man far and wide, but men are omnipresent.
The story of the weeping camel
Film by Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni- DE- 87 min./2003.
The film tells the story of a nomad family who lives in the Gobi desert. A newly born white camel is rejected by its mother. Through the age-old Hoos ritual and the music of the horse head fiddle, the mother camel is induced to adopt her young.
Film by Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni- DE- 87 min./2003.
Film by Zulfikar Musakov from the 90s.
Source Novastan: “The science fiction comedy with a (very) small budget is an homage to Steven Spielberg and his film“ E.T. ”. “Abdullajon” is named after an alien. The film, which was released shortly after the collapse of the USSR, is set in the last days of the Soviet regime and wonderfully describes the period of perestroika and glasnost in an Uzbek village (kishlak).
The film by Zulfikar Musakov is a bit crazy, while it describes the Uzbek village society with all its good and bad sides in a shrill way. The traditional Uzbek hoes – the ketmeni, which in the film begin to fly thanks to extraterrestrial magic and become the object of village and administrative madness, have even given rise to the term “ketmenization” to describe the ridiculous deterioration in politics and social life in Uzbekistan . In 2014 Tashkent even developed a game called “Super Ketmen” that lets the ketmeni fly.
Abdullajon was a milestone in Uzbek cinema. And although the film was created as a critique of Uzbek society in the late Soviet Union, it remains very relevant to this day. “
Cultural Dialog in Eurasia 