Saratan, 2005

Inviting favorable comparison to Serik Aprimov’s Glastnost-era muted comedy The Last Stop (a film that ushered the Kazakh new wave), Kyrgyzstan filmmaker Ernest Abdyshaparov spins his own charming, infectious, and delightful pastoral tale on the doldrums of rural life in post Soviet-era central Asian republics in Saratan. Introducing an eclectic cast of characters – a […]

The Last Stop (Terminus), 1987 / The Watchman (The Guard), 1989 / The Apple, 2003

The Last Stop (Terminus), 1987 (Serik Aprimov) In an early episode in The Last Stop, a young man, newly discharged from the Soviet army visits his relatives and inquires about what has happened in the bucolic town during his absence, to which his extended family responds “Nothing happens here. We live.” Considered to be the […]

The Fly-Up, 2002 / My Brother Silk Road, 2001

The Fly-Up Preceding Marat Sarulu’s feature film, My Brother Silk Road is the filmmaker’s short film, The Fly-Up, a quiet observation of a factory furnace worker’s idyllic afternoon of rest as he attempts to escape the oppressiveness of his existence by taking a nap on the rooftop, watching a beautiful young neighbor as she paints […]