Postcard from Bishkek

The news broke during the week that there’s a Kyrgyz film up for an Oscar. Pustoi Dom, (The Empty House or The Empty Home in English … “Dom” is one of those words that is hard to translate … it used basically as “that place where you lay you head and go to sleep” and […]

The other day I came across a link to a film on one of the local video sharing sites, Namba. The film was called Almaz, which is Kyrgyz for “Diamond” and is a common boys name. The film caught my attention because it was in the Kyrgyz Cinema section, and although Kyrgyz Cinema has a […]

Whilst I was in Naryn this month I took the trouble to go through some of the video cassettes and CDs that we have up there.

At the end of 1941, a new American “romantic comedy”, Sullivan’s Travels, was released – starring Joel McRae and Veronica Lake.  It wasn’t a great success at the box office and enjoyed mixed reviews.  With the passage of time, however, it’s reputation has improved and is now considered to be a classic. I remember watching […]

Following last week’s postcard about developments in Kyrgyz Cinema …  I was intrigued to come across a news item about a young Kyrgyz born filmmaker, Dair Karakeev. The story appeared in a youth orientated newspaper, “Limon“, (“Lemon”), because although the hour and a half long film is not due to receive its premiere until September, […]

Saratan is a film made in 2005 by the Kyrgyz director Ernest Abdyjaparov, with financial assistance from Germany, and distributed in the West by a German company. The film was made more than ten years after the demise of the Soviet Union - when the various socialist republics suddenly found themselves  with unexpected independence – which brought with it an economic malaise following the withdrawal […]

Beshkempir, (known in the West as “The Adopted Son”), a film by Aktan Abdikalikov and was made in 1988. It was his first feature film and has been hailed as “a worldwide success”.

Ernest Abdyjaparov was born in Bishkek in 1961. After finishing High School, in 1978, he made several applications to enter the All Union Cinematography Institute in Moscow – ironically, as it turned out, unsuccessfully.  Instead, he launched himself into a varied career which included: a year with the Music School of the Osh Pedagogical Institute; […]

Tolomosh Okeev, (1937-2001), was a film director whose output attracted admirers from abroad as well as at home. His shot his first film, “There are horses”, in 1965, and his last in 1986.

During the week I cam across a news item headed: “Initiative group translates famous Kyrgyz movies into English“. According to the article, a group of Kyrgyz citizens living abroad have put together a plan for a Festival of Kyrgyz films, and in preparation for this have already translated several films into English, such as: Gennadiy […]