Representing Central Asia. Optics, Identity and Aesthetics of Modern Cinema in the Region

Central Asian cinema is perhaps one of the most unstable layers of visual culture in the post-Soviet space. Sometimes it breaks through with bright short flashes at global and regional festivals, sometimes it reaches the big screen and even gets re-released, and increasingly lately, it emerges in recommendations from film critics and online cinemas. But far more often it remains unnoticed not only outside but also within Central Asia. At the same time, films made in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan feature an unconventional optics and a unique context that is unlike European, Russian, or any other cinema. The goal of this book is to introduce readers to the carriers of this optics. And to try to view Central Asia through the eyes of the directors.

Kamil Gimazdtynov is a researcher of Central Asian cinema, playwright, theater director, and editor-in-chief of online magazines about Tatarstan culture, "Indy" and "Indy. Almet". He is the curator of film screening series from Central Asia in Kazan at the theater venue MOÑ, at the Center for Contemporary Culture "Smena," and at the Moscow Cultural Center. In 2021, he defended his master's thesis "Post-Soviet Experience of Constructing One's Own Identity in Central Asian Feature Films" at the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University.