Category: Culture and Sports
Bukhara Before the Border: Aini and the Politics of Tajik-Uzbek Memory
Some books are interesting because they tell a story. The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini is interesting because it captures an entire world at the moment… [...]
Uzbekistan at the World Cup: The White Wolves Enter the Global Stage
For its first-ever appearance at the FIFA World Cup, Uzbekistan arrives in North America with more than a football story. Around Eldor Shomurodov, Abdukodir… [...]
Rinat Bekchintaev: “Almaty has an authentic cinematic image that cannot be repeated anywhere else”
From Almaty to Moscow and Paris, filmmaker and editor Rinat Bekchintaev has built a creative identity shaped by movement, memory and displacement. In this interview with Novastan, he discusses… [...]
Through roads, markets and silence: Tolomush Zhanybekov films Kyrgyzstan’s unseen lives
Kyrgyz director Tolomush Zhanybekov turns his camera toward the people and places often left outside the frame: cemetery guards, pensioners selling their belongings, children facing humiliation, brothers bound by… [...]
“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… [...]
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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,… [...]
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… [...]
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… [...]
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… [...]
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,… [...]
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… [...]