n n n ‘. concat(e. i18n. t(“search. voice. recognition_retry”),’n
Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, an emerging generation of filmmakers born and raised in the independent countries of Central Asia is giving an exhilarating charge to the region’s cinema and helping to put their unheralded industries on the map.
Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva says these “children of independence” bring a “new attitude” to the screen and give a boost of power to emerging industries that for decades were Moscow’s thumb.
More variety
Critique of “Bride Kidnapping”: A Harsh, Beautiful and Scathing Denunciation of a Barbaric Kyrgyz Custom
“Assault” Review: A Deconstructed, Deadpan Mystery That Combines Black Comedy and Icy White Landscapes
Movie Review: “The River”
“In all the countries of Central Asia, film production is developing very temporarily,” he says. “There are a lot of young production studios that can make movies with public or personal money. “
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, what Abikeyeva describes as “the euphoria of freedom” spread to the former Central Asian republics, adding Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Filmmakers who in the past had to submit their scripts to omnipotent committees subsidized by the Soviet state no longer needed Moscow’s approval to make their films. “We felt like we could do whatever we wanted,” he says.
However, this power soon clashed with the realities of cinema in newly independent countries that had long depended on Moscow for film financing, promotion, and distribution. Whatever excitement arose from the collapse of the Soviet-era quota formula that dictated the number of films that can be produced in the republic, independent film industries may not be so easily created from scratch.
In the decades since, there have been hopeful signs for a post-Soviet revival, particularly in the growing Kazakh and Uzbek industries, which Abikeyeva estimates each release 60-80 feature films a year.
Emerging talents from Central Asia are Kazakh Adilkhan Yerzhanov, who presented his latest feature “Assault” in Rotterdam and Berlin last year, and Emir Baigazin, who competed at the Berlinale with “Harmony Lessons. ” Other emerging filmmakers from the region include Kyrgyzstan’s Mirlan Abdykalykov, whose debut feature, “Bride Kidnapping,” was well received in Busan, and Uzbekistan’s Shokir Kholikov, whose debut feature, “Sunday,” was named Best Film at the New Asian Talent category at this year’s Shanghai Film Festival.
Challenges nevertheless persist across the region. Buoyed by a surge in investment, Kazakhstan introduced a new film law in 2019 that sought to overhaul the industry and laid out provisions for a 30% cash rebate. But that system remains on ice amid the post-COVID recovery, as well as the gradual return of stability after several years of political turmoil in the country.
Uzbekistan, the most populous of the former Soviet republics, has experienced a boom in the production of advertising titles for the domestic market (prompting Abikeyeva to refer to it as “Central Asian Bollywood”), but it remains “difficult to shoot independent films. “says the director of “Sunday” Kholikov.
Kholikov’s debut feature (pictured, top) was largely financed by the Uzbek government, which awarded the director one billion Uzbek sum (around $100,000 at the time) after his short, “Choy,” took home the Grand Prix at the Entr’2 Marches International Film Festival in Cannes in 2020. While that funding was welcome, it wasn’t necessarily sufficient to mount an ambitious production: Kholikov says he decided to set “Sunday” entirely in a small Uzbek village in part because budgetary constraints restricted him to a single location.
Across the border in Kyrgyzstan, which flourished during the “Kyrgyz Miracle” of the Soviet era but has yet to regain its standing, the industry is nevertheless “much more vibrant [than a decade ago], producing a diverse range of both commercial and auteur films,” says Abdykalykov, the son of veteran Kyrgyz filmmaker Aktan Abdykalykov, whose “Bride Kidnapping” was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as a “hard-edged but intensely compassionate portrait” of a woman who falls victim to a brutal Kyrgyz tradition.
“The rise of digital technology has made filmmaking more accessible and cost-effective. In terms of cinematic language, there’s now greater freedom to express diverse ideas, embracing a wider variety of genres and more experimental approaches,” he says.
In an encouraging sign for Tajikistan’s burgeoning industry, the country has included a film – Behrouz Sebt Rasoul’s “Melody,” a co-production with Iran — in the foreign Oscar race for the first time in 18 years. (Kyrgyzstan is also reviving this year, with Aktan Abdykalykov’s “This Is What I Remember. “) However, in Turkmenistan, which is largely remote from the foreign community, production is low.
Cooperative efforts between neighboring countries, which have a long shared history and constitute a market of approximately 80 million people, have been fruitless, thanks in large part to the pandemic. The Eurasia International Film Festival, which celebrated its 15th edition in 2019 and was a focal point for filmmakers in the region, has yet to make a post-COVID reset. The same goes for the Almaty Film Festival, which was presented with wonderful fanfare in Kazakhstan’s cultural capital in 2018, but has yet to host a second edition.
But this year’s launch of the Alternativa Film Project, which is subsidized by California-based tech company inDrive and recently awarded $100,000 in cash prizes to filmmakers in the region, is arguably a sign that other projects will step in to fill the void. . lack and promotion of emerging skills from Central Asia.
Despite the challenges, Kyrgyz filmmaker Dastan Madalbekov is among the administrators who see a bright future for the region’s emerging talents. “Over the last two or three years, our young filmmakers have had more opportunities to get funding for their films or to know where to get it,” he says, referring to a generation of Central Asian filmmakers who attend festivals and films. labs, presentation sessions, and other industry events. “Personally, as a representative of this race and as a spectator, I would like to hear brave new voices. »
“People don’t know an aesthetic expression for Central Asia,” adds Kazakhstan’s Aisultan Seitov, whose first feature, “Qas” (Hunger), won the award for most productive director in the New Asian Talents segment of this year’s Shanghai Film Festival. “That’s what I’m passionate about. This is a huge area. You can go anywhere, and if you get it right with a confident style, you can create the portrait of Central Asian cinema.
The one of variety
Oscar Predictions: Best Actress – Elizabeth Taylor has won twice in six years, could Emma Stone reflect this year’s awards?
Oscar Predictions: Best Actor: ‘The Holdovers’ Puts Paul Giamatti at the Top of Academy Attention
Oscar Predictions: Animated Movie: Could Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ Challenge ‘Spider-Verse?’
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.