Big News For Kazakhstan!
Kazakhstan has a reason to be proud today. And no, it has nothing to do with Aliev being ‘brought to justice’ or those new IKEA outlets.
Today Kazakhstan garnered its first Academy Award Nomination, for the film Монгол (The Mongol), filmed during 2005 and 2006, but just released this last year at film festivals, surprisingly including Toronto’s International Film Festival.
And don’t worry about all the nay-sayers, Kazakhstan! What do Mongolians know about Temujin, anyway? And how could they rain on such an international parade of camaraderie and cooperation? Turns out the leading actor is Japanese, the director is non-other than Russian Sergei “Nomad” Bodrov, and most of the scenes filmed in Inner Mongolia in China, though the rest was filmed inside Kazakhstan. I understand that some of the budget also was covered by Kazakhstan, though quite a percentage was carried by Germany and Russia as well. I’m actually surprised the nomination is going to Kazakhstan alone.
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Tags: Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Movies.
Posted by Michael Hancock on January 23rd, 2008
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Comments
Time: 1/23/2008, 9:10 pm
I’m also surprised. Here most people I’ve talked to consider the film to be Russian, not Kazakh. There’s nowhere near as much nationalistic hype surrounding it as there was for Nomad (for obvious reasons) despite the fact that the production values of Mongol were noticeably higher.
Time: 1/24/2008, 9:42 am
The film is Russian despite where it was filmed. The Kazakh nomination seems to be just another of way-too-many politically-motivated choices in an industry of art and entertainment.
Now, a nomination for a film by Kazakhs (regardless where it was filmed) would be something to boast. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some buried out there (and possible a gem or two), unseen because they’ve been unable to meet the demands of the awards and even the mere entrance requirements for the indie fests.
Time: 1/24/2008, 3:42 pm
I’m a huge fan of Schizo [Шиза], and I wonder how that didn’t get more notice and attention. It was the selection offered by Kazakhstan to the Academy Awards in 2005, and I’m willing to bet that it’s twice the cinematic achievement that Mongol is.
I noticed that they are marketing it again, and have a new title for it, one that fits the plot better. “The Recruiter” might fit better, but I prefer Schizo, as it’s not like any movie most Americans have seen before, and a title like Schizo at least prepares them for that.
I prefer
Time: 1/25/2008, 2:29 pm
Well, if Timur Bekmambetov (Day Watch, Night Watch) can be called a russian director, I don’t see why Bodrov can’t be called a kazakh director.
I liked Schizo too. Back in school in Almaty in 80s sometimes we used to call each other Shiza:), like ‘crazy’.
Time: 1/25/2008, 2:49 pm
Actually, instead of Nomad and Mongol I would recommend to try to find ‘Kek’ (Vengeance) filmed in Western Kazakhstan. It’s about feud between the kazakh clan Adai and turkmens in 19th or 18th century (or even earlier) and, of course, tragic love of a kazakh guy and turkmen girl. The plot is interesting even though it sounds very Shakespearean, it has some very kazakh literature pecularities. Plus, scenery and charakters are very western kazakh and turkmen, and could be inetersting for those who never been in these part of the world and never met these people. I have not seen in myself but seen a short episode in Youtube. It has english subtitles
Time: 1/27/2008, 7:16 pm
I haven’t seen any of the movies mentioned above, but I know there is new movie called “Ulzhan”, which was produced by the Germans in December 2007. It should be long and melodramatic, but very interesting, supposedly. Waiting for it to appear in Budapest cinemas, not sure it will make it here….
Time: 1/28/2008, 4:44 am
The Washington Post has another interesting story up about Kazakhstan/Russia and the media:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/
They link to a “Mongol” story towards the end too.
Time: 1/23/2008, 8:44 pm
Michael,
The Mongol is a vehicle for Sergey Bodrov to promote his favorite ideology. He is fond of Eurasianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Eurasianism). To put it charitably, the concept’s scientific underpinnings are weak. This is just another twist in the Russians’ endless obsession with who they are. If they spent a fraction of the time and energy building roads (only 1/3 of villages there have roads to the outside world), Mother Russia might indeed become a great nation.