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Post-, Neo-, and De-colonial Central Asia: human rights activism and collective filmmaking

SPEAKERS: Aïda Adilbek, Mikhail Borodin, Gulzat Egemberdieva, Anisa Sabiri
MODERATOR: Heleen Gerritsen

Aïda Adilbek, Mikhail Borodin, Gulzat Egemberdieva, and Anisa Sabiri explore the (post-)Soviet film history and industry of Central Asia: the long-since independent states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The discussion, moderated by curator Heleen Gerritsen, touches upon the role of grassroots initiatives, efforts to establish local filmmaking education, the local film industries’ close affiliation with the Russian production and distribution infrastructure, and the future national, regional, and international perspectives of local productions.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Aïda Adilbek is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator from Kazakhstan. Her artistic practice has developed around ideas of femininity explored through cultural codes, communication, and the ungraspable simplicity of domestic life. She works primarily in performance and video art. She is a member of the Almaty-based artist collective MATA and the Central Asian research group DAVRA, initiated by Saodat Ismailova.

Mikhail Borodin is a director from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. After studying film in Moscow, he produced and shot adverts and music videos, and founded his own production company, Sneg. His feature debut Convenience Store received its premiere at the 2022 Berlinale. That same year, his documentary Cotton100%, which deals with forced labour in Uzbekistan, screened at goEast. In 2022, together with the film producer Julia Shaginurova, Mikhail Borodin founded the Tashkent Film School.

Gulzat Egemberdieva is an artist, documentary filmmaker, and social scientist from Kyrgyzstan. She studied journalism at the Bishkek University of Humanities and received an MA from the Centre of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies of the University of Toronto. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Berlin’s Humboldt University on the topic of women in Kyrgyz culture. In addition, she is co-director of the production company Chemodan Films and previously worked for Kyrgyz National Radio and Television.

Anisa Sabiri is an independent author and director from Tadzhikistan. Her award-winning films The Crying of Tanbur (2018) and Rhythms of Lost Time (2021) have been shown at numerous international film festivals. In 2018, she founded My Vision, a Dushanbe-based experimental film residency that focuses on fostering young filmmakers. Among other projects, she is currently working on the documentary film Generation, which has also been selected for the 2022 East-West Talent Lab edition, as well as the fiction feature Lola, whose screenplay earned her London Film School’s Outstanding Screenwriter Award.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Heleen Gerritsen is the Director of goEast Film Festival, a founding member of the Documentary Association of Europe, and a member of the European Film Academy. Originally from the Netherlands, she has worked in a number of production and festival roles. From 2014 to 2016, she served as festival director for the European documentary film festival dokumentART in Neubrandenburg.