The Stanford Central Asian Film Series
2010-11
Films of Central Asia:
Two Epochs of
National Identity Formation
Introduction and Commentary by Alma Kunanbaeva
Stanford Anthropology Department
All screenings start at 7:00 pm
Winter Quarter screenings will be held in Building 370, Room 370
Spring Quarter screenings will be held in Building 200 (Lane History Corner), Room 030
All films shown with English subtitles
Free and open to the public
This film series may be taken for credit by Stanford students
WINTER QUARTER FILMS
Films from the Soviet Period
All Winter Quarter screenings to take place in Building 370, room 370
January 4th: Atameken / The Land of the Fathers
Kazakh, 1966; directed by Shaken Aymanov
One of the brightest Kazakh films of the Soviet era, produced during the period of the so-called “Thaw,” by the founder of Kazakh cinema. As a young poet of the 60s, screenwriter Olzhas Suleimenov was known as the voice of his generation.
January 18th: Difficult Crossing (released as White Mountains)
Kyrgyz, 1964; directed by Melis Ubukeev
The film weaves together the metaphors and symbols of Kyrgyz national culture. Director Melis Ubukeev was the first to make a cinematographic record of the Kyrgyz as a people with a distinct culture and position in the world.
February 1st: You are Not an Orphan
Uzbek, 1963; directed by Shukhrat Abbasov
A film by one of the founders of Uzbek national cinema depicts the way children of different nationalities learn to live together as a family. The director offers a specific social spatial model — a community of people, the so called “mahallya.” The film depicts the life in a small multinational society, its survival by the laws of traditional Uzbek “mahallya.” The film is based on actual events and dedicated to all families who displayed kindness and happiness to Soviet-era orphans.
February 15th: Hassan-arbakesh
Tajik, 1965; directed by Boris Kimyagarov
The narration of the film follows the mythological and epic modalities of traditional Tajik culture. Director Boris Kimyagarov (1920-1979), born in Samarkand in a Bukharan Jewish family, is one of the founders of Tajik cinema. The film depicts the clash of two cultures, two worlds: traditional Tajik society and Soviet power. Unlike other movies of Kimyagarov, this one, because of the communist censorship, was left unknown to the wide audience outside Tajikistan.
March 1st: Daughter-in-Law
Turkmen, 1972; directed by Khodzhakuli Narliev
Critics have called 'Daughter-in-Law' an encyclopedia of life of Turkmen life on the steppes, and a Shakespearean tragedy on the steppe. The plot is based on actual events: A woman refuses to believe that her husband has died and awaits his return while living with her father-in-law, a steppe herder. Her life of hope, visions and dreams is explored.
SPRING QUARTER FILMS
Films from the Independence Period
All Spring Quarter screenings to take place in Building 200 (Lane History Corner), Room 030
April 5th: Aksuat
Kazakh, 1997; directed by Serik Aprymov
Aksuat is the name of a village in Kazakhstan, where a man's simple life is disrupted by the unannounced visit from his younger brother, who is on the run from debtors with his pregnant wife. He finds himself unexpectedly left with the task of caring for his brother's wife, despite the gossip and disapproval by others in his village.
April 19th: Beshkempir: The Adopted Son
Kyrgyz, 1998; directed by Aktan Abdykalykov
Shot in black and white and occasionally interspersed with color sequences, this film depicts the coming of age of an adopted boy in a rural village in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. It opens with his adoption ceremony presided over by 5 old women (Beshkempir literally means "five grandmothers") and continues through his adolescence and adulthood. This movie was the recepient of numerous international awards.
May 3rd: Voiz / The Orator
Uzbek, 1998; directed by Yasup Razykov
A witty and poetic story of Iskander, a poor cart man, who can't give up his three-woman harem and therefore happens to find himself at the centre of events that impact his marital life, family relations and his position in the society. The Orator takes place in the 1920s, at the dawn of Soviet power in Uzbekistan. The Orator is crucially concerned with gender, specifically the early-Soviet reform of Uzbek women's rights and marriage policies.
May 17th: Kosh Ba Kosh / Odds and Evens
Tajik, 1993; directed by Bakhtiyar Khudoinazarov
The film tells a romantic love story set against the background of Tajik Civil War (1992-1996.) In this strange and dangerous time the men of the city are all into gambling. The situation reaches absurd proportions when the main protagonist wins a young woman from her father. Not knowing what to do, the man decides to take the girl into his shelter -- a cable-car station in the mountains. The war seems far away, but soon it reaches even the apparently peaceful refuge as well. The film conveys the atmosphere of war-torn Dushanbe, the spirit of its citizens strengthened by the hardships and absurdities of the strange war.
May 31st: Little Angel, Make Me Happy
Turkmen, 1992; directed by Usman Saparov
"Little Angel" tells an intimate story within the larger historical context of the deportation of ethnic Germans from Turkmenistan to Siberia during the Second World War. Saparov's historical narrative touches on one of the most complex questions for the modern "little person," the question of "motherland". The film received Grand Prizes at six international festivals, and many other awards.
The screening of this series made possible thanks to a generous gift of the Open Society Institute, Budapest to
the Silk Road House (Berkeley).
This DVD collection has been prepared by Gulnara Abikeyeva, director of
the
Center of Central Asian Cinematography
