The "Kyrgyz Miracle
Kyrgyz film production, despite a few small-scale productions, can be traced back to the Second World War. At that time, Moscow's film studios were partly relocated to Bishkek. However, Kyrgyz cinema acquired enormous importance with the birth of the "Kyrgyz Miracle" in the early 1960s. This term refers to the first generation of filmmakers to emerge from the Kyrgyz Soviet Republic: Bolotbek Chamchiev, Tolomush Okeev and Mélis Ouboukeev. The first, Chamchiev, made his film debut as an actor, playing the lead role in Larissa Chepitko's Chaleur torride (1963). In 1966, Chamchiev made his first short documentary, Manastchi. Chamchiev left his mark on Central Asian culture with his adaptations of short stories by Kyrgyz writer Chinguiz Aitmatov. A case in point is the film The White Boat (1975), which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975. Director Tolomouch Okeev's style is characterized by realism and a quest for formal beauty. His film Le Ciel de notre enfance (1967) is considered one of the great Kyrgyz classics of the 7th art. As for Mélis Ouboukeev, he released the short documentary La Rivière de montagne (1960), a testament to the language of the younger generation.
Nowadays
Before the 1990s, Kyrgyz cinema was a small part of Russian and Soviet cinema. Kyrgyz productions can be distinguished by the language of the films concerned, or simply by the nationality of the directors. In 1991, with the independence of the Republic, the Kyrgyz film industry experienced major transitional difficulties. Since the late 1990s, Aktan Arym Kubat has been one of the few Kyrgyz directors to make a name for himself in international cinema. His most notable works include Le Voleur de lumière (2011) and Centaure (2016). The former, presented at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, tells the story of an electrician who comes to the aid of the underprivileged inhabitants of a remote village in Kyrgyzstan, while Centaur aims to illustrate a certain freedom in the country, through the story of a worker who steals horses. Also worth mentioning is director Ernest Abdyjaparov (also co-writer of Centaur ) and his film Boz Salkin (2007), whose plot is based on the traditional Ala Kachuu custom known as " bride theft". According to the director, the film is so popular in Kyrgyzstan that 20% of the little girls born that year bear the name of its main character: Asema.
