Category: Culture and Sports
“If You’re Scared, You do it Scared”: How Bishkek’s Techno Scene Survives State Repression
Last April, Kyrgyzstan’s special forces carried out heavy-handed raids on two of Bishkek’s most popular electronic-music bars. Expecting a hotspot of drugs and illicit activity, officers found instead a young,… [...]
Central Asia: At The Crossroads – highlights from Berlin’s new regional film festival
Berlin’s Sinema Transtopia hosted the first edition of Central Asia: At The Crossroads on September 27–28, 2025, a new short film festival spotlighting bold and diverse voices from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,… [...]
Welcome the Shitheads: Bishkek band Vtoroi Ka goes on a European tour
In October and November, avant-garde music duo Vtoroi Ka will be touring Europe, from Istanbul to Reykjavík. This is the first tour of its kind for a popular music band… [...]
Bound by Tradition: Silent Suffering of Daughters-in-Law in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has a distinct form of gender-based violence: abuse of and control over daughters-in-law. This reflects cultural tradition where a bride – kelin – leaves her family home to move… [...]
Sex, Drugs, and Postpunk – the new album of Bishkek’s Duo Vtoroi Ka
Bishkek musical duo Vtoroi Ka has recently dropped its third album: carnivalesque postpunk in a world where nothing is as serious as it seems. Novastan’s review. “These post-Soviet cities have… [...]
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New voices: Central Asian short films at the GoEast Festival 2024
Central Asia’s young filmmakers and their work are extremely diverse. The audience at the 24th goEast film festival in Wiesbaden was able to see this for themselves in various short… [...]
How is Kyrgyzstan celebrating Nooruz in 2024?
Everyone in Kyrgyzstan is looking forward to a warm and sunny spring after a long and cold winter. Nooruz marks the astronomical start of the spring, or spring equinox, when… [...]
Inside Bishkek’s Metal Boom: Portrait of a Music Pioneer in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek is home to a small but vibrant metal scene. In the still largely traditional Kyrgyz society, local metal artists often struggle to find an audience, produce their… [...]
“Alaqan”: Aida Adilbek’s decolonial documentary cinema
We are continuing our series of articles on Kazakhstani documentaries revolutionizing everyday life. Documentary film directors and producers Kristina Mikhailova, Dana Sabitova and Almira Ismailova analyze Kazakhstani documentaries in cultural,… [...]
“JAÑA CEKARA” Film Festival Forced to Go Online due to Pressure from Law Enforcement
Films about re-education camps for Kazakhs and Uyghurs in Xinjiang were planned to be shown to viewers in Almaty Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies have started to put pressure on the… [...]
Sweet Milky Corn: the film, in which everyone recognizes themselves
A heated debate continues in Kazakhstan’s film industry around redistribution of the resources among the titular creative elite, privileged officials, and monopolists of the field. The industry, which depends entirely… [...]
“Goliath” – a parable of power
With his new film “Goliath,” director Adilkhan Yerzhanov once again takes his audience into the vastness of the Kazakh steppe. The revenge western celebrated its German premiere on 29 April… [...]