By Katherin Machalek
The Eurocentric concept of the nation-state has disoriented the identities of peoples subjected to colonial rule. In an effort to slice up and own vast parts of the globe, colonialist powers constructed ethnically and politically awkward unions, which led to nasty conflicts and identity crises especially as they fell apart in the post-colonial era. Post-colonized peoples struggled to find their original identities after decades of living under domination of both the colonizers culture and the identity that the colonizer created for the peoples it colonized. In her article “Post-Third-Worldist culture Gender, nation, and the cinema,” Ella Shohat writes “the formation of Third-World nation-states often involved a double process of, on the one hand, joining diverse ethnicities and regions that had been separate under colonialism and, on the other, partitioning regions in a way that forced regional redefinition (Iraq/Kuwait) and a cross-shuffling of populations (Pakistan/India, Israel/Palestine)” (62).
Although not typically referred to as “Third World” or studied as Third Cinema, the peoples of the post-Soviet Eurasian states definitely experienced this “double-process” with the dismantling of Russian influence over the Easter Block. After the fall of the Soviet Union, numerous ethnic conflicts erupted at the same time that nations were recreating their identities and establishing statehood with little time to prepare. This, alongside the reestablishment of Russia as a brutally dominant political and economic force in the region, has led to a uniquely messy situation when it comes to searching to identity, where displacement, exile, Russian post-colonialism, and robust local culture and traditions all co-exist. The Soviet Union was not merely a political entity, but acted categorically as a colonial power in ceding fast territories in Central Asia and “Russifiying” them culturally, linguistically, and socially. The recent, more well-known conflicts in Ukraine over Crimea and the Eastern partition are wrapped up in the unwillingness of Russia to recognize Ukrainian culture and identity as anything more than a province of its fallen empire.
The study of Third Cinema provoked a curiosity in me to investigate how filmmakers of the former Soviet Union have grappled with this complex situation of restoring a sense of identity after the official influence of Soviet Russia has dissipated in the wake of the Union’s demise. How have local cultural identities stood up to the impeding cultural and economic influences of the capitalistic West that infiltrated with full force after the fall and the persistent dominance of modern-day Russia, still present as a regional economic, political, and cultural force, and unwilling to give up its “ownership” of the region? My research focused on the following threads:
- Identifying networks of media makers focusing on interrogating their own post-Soviet identities in the former Soviet Republics
- Cataloging post-Soviet filmmakers and films that investigate the fault lines of identity
- Researching alternative channels of distribution through local organizations, festivals, community screening venues
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The former Soviet Union is a vast geographical space. To manage the research for this project, I limited my focus to Central Asia (specifically Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan), where ethnicities and culture diverge more distinctly from Russian culture than more western former Soviet Republics like, Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucuses.
With little of the oil and gas reserves of neighboring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and a longer history or political openness, Kyrgyzstan has emerged as the region’s independent culture hub. While Kazakhstan probably has the region’s most well-funded international film festival (Eurasia National Film Festival), Kyrgyzstan has the most organized networks of “art house” films and filmmakers as well as largest online resource of interviews with directors and critical articles. Kyrgyz critic Gulbara Tolomushuvo even writes about the tangible thirst for “amateur” cinema among the Kyrgyz population, which have reach audiences informally largely through the popularity of pirated DVDs. Tolomushuvo claims that the Kyrgyz people are drawn to nationally created low-budget films because of their unpretentious storytelling.[1] In 2012, Kyrgyzstan was called a “Nation of Film Festivals” for its flourishing independent and auteur cinema with an impressive number of festivals focusing on non-commercial films.[2] A recent film from 2010, The Light Thief (Svet-Ake), by Aktan Abdykalykov embodies the approach of these independent, distinctly Kyrgyz films.
Kazakhstan is the runner up in Central Asia in terms of independent filmmaking. Its capital Almaty was an industrial hub during the Soviet Era and the influx of technology and people to its largest city meant that film production got its start here already in the early 20th century. After the fall of the Soviet Union, independent film production rapidly declined until 2005 when President Nursultan Nazarbayev injected some money into using film to build up a nationalist-focus cinematic narrative with Nomad, a historical epic about the legendary Kazakh warrior Ablai Khan. Due to the politically oppressive environment, film funding and production is restricted to films approved by the regime, indicating that most funded productions are meant to have a nationalist message or designed to win awards abroad, rather than serve as an expressive format for the Kazakh people. This has left little room for the development of truly independent cinema in Kazakhstan. As of 2016, Kazakhstan was producing 15 features films per year. Most films released in Kazakh cinemas are Hollywood or international (primarily Russian) films.[3] Kazakhstan has been submitting films to the Oscars foreign-language category annually since 2006. It was the only Central Asian country to make the shortlist with Sergei Bodrov’s Mongol in 2007, a historical drama focusing on Genghis Khan. While it received praise by mostly Western audiences, some criticized it for being a thinly-plotted, Hollywood-wannabee-style production.[4]
Still there is a small movement called the “Kazakh New Wave,” which began with director Rashid Nagmanov in 1989 and has emerged opposite the high-budget national films. Though small and largely unknown outside of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh New Wave is auteur cinema, characterized by an austere, formalistic approach and subjects that grapple with persistent poverty and corruption since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is said to have had its cinematic peak in the 1960s and 1970s.[5] The political regime is even more oppressive than Kazakhstan when it comes to cultural expression, limiting approval to artistic works only if they seek to uncritically glorify Uzbek traditional culture. According to Alexei Ulko, the official State strategy for cinema development states: ‘Since the first days of independence, the Uzbek cinema has endeavored to reflect the current changes and achievements in the formation of a democratic society, to talk from the screen about honor and dignity, kindness and charity, loyalty and morality… The National Uzbek Cinema Association has identified the priorities in cinema and video production: focusing on the local audience; creating the conditions for the production of films reflecting Uzbek people’s national individuality and traditions; providing support to artistic films contributing to the spiritual enrichment of the society.”[6] However positive this may sound, Ulko argues that most independent artists want to stay away from this heavily censored top-down approach.
The increasing availability of cheap filmmaking equipment has led to an uptick in quasi independent film productions in Uzbekistan, but at least one renowned Central Asian film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva has claimed that this is leading to a “Bollywoodization” of Uzbek film, which is a direct shot at quality. Veterans of the film industry complain that while Uzbek films are gaining popularity, the stories are increasingly empty in terms of artitistc or political content.[7]
Below are findings for the research questions:
- Networks of media makers in the former Soviet Republics
Kyrgyz Cinema—online portal curating Kyrgyz film news and calls for festivals and competitions, including an Art House Festival in Kyrgyzstan. It also has profiles of Kyrgyz film directors and other crew.
Cinema Development Fund—is an independent organization that was created in 2006 with the goal to support and develop cinematography of the Kyrgyz Republic, in particular for providing management services and funding to the projects that were planned within the strategic development programs. It supports the Kyrgyz Cinema website. The website is also funded by the Prince Claus Fund, a Dutch government foundation with the mandate to create opportunities for connection and exchange and stimulated cultural expression, primarily in Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.
Kino Kultura—website with articles, film reviews, and interviews with Central Asian directors curated by Central Asian film critic Gulnara Abikeeva
New Kyrgyz Cinema—Articles on the peculiar popularity of “amateur” cinema in Kyrgyzstan
- Catalogue of post-Soviet filmmakers and films that investigate the fault lines of identity
Kyrgyzstan
Aktan Abdykalykov (b. 1957, also known as Aktan Arym Kubat) stands out as a director who uses filmmaking to interrogate Kyrgyz identity. Interviews with Abdykalykov reveal that he is driven by a need to find a voice for Kyrgyz cinema and has experimented with interrogating his own Soviet and then post-Soviet experience to express new forms of distinctly Kyrgyz storytelling.
Aktan Abdykalykov directed a trilogy of films in the decade after the Soviet Union, which focused on coming of age and have been described as patchworks rather than linear narrative. In an interview with Gulnara Abikeeva, Abdykalykov explains his storytelling as symbolic of the “kurak” or traditional patchwork blankets made in Kyrgyzstan. His approach is particularly in response to an insulting (colonialist) comment by Goddard[8]:
Gulnara: In my opinion, Aktan, you are the pioneer-discoverer of the national Kyrgyz worldview through the medium of cinema. In Beshkempir there is something very simple but fully expressing the existence of Kyrgyz people, which is very close to the life style of the Kazakh people. I felt, for the first time, that I was immersed in the reality of my people; memories of childhood floated by — because the process of comprehension of one’s environment takes place in the early childhood of a person. I have heard this kind of reaction to your film from many Kazakh people. How do you understand the Kyrgyz identity?
Aktan: Some time ago — I think it was Godard — said that there are cinematic nations and listed them, and there are all others, which are far from the esthetics of cinema. That hurt me. Since then I have been seeking something that would express the essence of the esthetic of Kyrgyz cinema. I don’t know if Kazakhs have it but Kyrgyz call it a kurak.
Gulnara: Kurak is a technique of making patchwork blankets.
Aktan: Yes, yes. Moreover, I would like to emphasize the unique poetry of the kurak. These bits and pieces of cloth are given away during funerals. The family buys lots of fabric, then tears it apart – approximately one elbow-length – and gives the pieces away to everybody who came to bid farewell to the deceased. This way, bits of different fabrics are collected in a household. Our mothers, more often grandmothers, sew a kurak from these pieces of cloth. In essence, a kurak accumulates memories of dead people – it becomes a patchwork of remembrance. For myself, I named Beshkempir a patchwork of my childhood. The film is constructed according to this principal. There is no linear story in it but there are fragments of my memories, my impressions, and when you put it all together, you get a kurak. It is a different matter whether I assembled or not it in the correct way. But traditional craftsmen never over-analyze their designs. It’s an unexplainable and spontaneous thing – it either flows along or not. I think that this essence of putting things together is very much like filmmaking
The trilogy includes:
- Dramatic short Sel’kincek (1993) won the FIPRESCI Prize in Turin, haven’t been able to located it for viewing.
- Beshkempir(Бешкемпир’) (1998), available on DVD on Amazon and can be viewed on Youtube with English subtitles.
- Maimyl(Маймыл) (2002), It showed extensively as the following festivals:
- Festival de Cannes 2001 – Un Certain Regard
- European Film Awards 2001
Award(s) : European Discovery of the Year - Jerusalem Film Festival 2001
- Edinburgh International Film Festival 2001
- Filmfest Hamburg 2001
- Sao Paulo Mostra Internacional de Cinema 2001
- Ljubljana International Film Festival 2001
- Busan International Film Festival 2001
- I could only find it on Youtube in 9 parts without subtitles.
Kazakhstan
Directors of the Kazakh New Wave:
Darezhan Omirbayev, Killer (1998), a hypnotic portrait of a financially crippled chauffeur in the country’s capital who turns to murder. Omirbayev’s later work is more commercial but Killer is credited as having a major influence on the Kazakh New Wave.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot62hnIRp5c
Zhanna Issabayeva, Nagima (2013), a portrait of one woman trying to help her female neighbors in a dispute with the landlord. Zhanna, one of the few female directors in Kazakhstan, captures the desperation of women in post-Soviet society. All characters are played by non-actors and the storytelling is very poetic.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/52185084
Adilkhan Yerzhanov, The Owners (2014), is a remake of Yerzhanov’s own film Constructors (2011), which was a somber black and white story of a family confronting the restrictions of local bureaucracy when trying to build a home. The remake is beautifully shot in color. Yershanov is one of the younger Kazakh directors out there and while New York educated, he has turned his storytelling back to the concerns of everyday people in Kazakhstan.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=66&v=MJuGVqETIWQ
Uzbekistan
Umida Akhmedova and Oleg Karpov, The Hostages of Eternity (2007), “explores the mechanical irrationality of the top-down ‘postcolonial’ administrative system in the country. It shows a woman incessantly sweeping a 100m-long fragment of a road in the rain. She is involved in the manual labor traditionally associated with Uzbek household practices, but her effort is focused on the road where the president travels to and from work twice a day. The film serves as a powerful illustration of the unholy amalgamation of an authoritarian political system and Central Asian parochialism with its power and gender inequalities.”[9]
Burden of Virginity, (2009). Short film
Popular cheaply-made “Bollywood style film Super Bride (2015)
Trailer: https://ok.ru/video/32586992235
- Alternative channels of distribution through local organizations, festivals, community screening venues
Kyrgyzstan
- The “Bir Duino (One World) – Kyrgyzstan” International Festival of Human Rights Documentaries
- Kyrgyzstan – Land of Short Films, International Short Film Festival of CIS countries, Baltic states and Georgia
- International Festival of Auteur Cinema[10]
- Ushkyn Student Festival
- The Republic Festival “My Kyrgyzstan”[11]
Kazakhstan
Eurasia International Film Festival
10th edition
Sep 15 – Sep 20, 2018
Estimated
Almaty, Kazakhstan
2014 winners: http://2014.eurasiaiff.com/en/archive/archive-2012/festival/history.html?showall=&start=2
Other useful findings:
Waves, Old and New, in Kazakh Cinema, by Birgit Beumers, KinoKultura: Issue 27 (2010)
Storytelling in World Cinemas by Lina Khatib, Columbia University Press, Oct 2, 2012
Social and Cultural Change in Central Asia: The Soviet Legacy by Sevket Akyildiz and Richard Carlson, Routledge, Oct 15, 2013.
Uzbekistan: Independent Uzbek Cinema and Postcolonialism, by Alexey Ulko. Puls of Central Asia, December 30, 2014.
[1] http://www.kinokultura.com/2008/22-moldalieva.shtml
[2] http://www.kinokultura.com/2012/37-tolomushova.shtml
[3] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-kazakhstan-selects-amanat-foreign-933701
[5] http://www.kinokultura.com/2013/42r-parizod.shtml
[6] https://pulsofcentralasia.org/2014/12/30/uzbekistan-independent-uzbek-cinema-and-postcolonialism/#_edn1
[7] https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-film-industry-quantity-versus-quality/24745666.html
[8] https://www.kinokultura.com/CA/abdikalikov.html
[9] https://pulsofcentralasia.org/2014/12/30/uzbekistan-independent-uzbek-cinema-and-postcolonialism/#_edn1
[10] http://www.kinokultura.com/2012/37-tolomushova.shtml
[11] http://www.kinokultura.com/2012/37-tolomushova.shtml