Category: Kazakhstan
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… [...]
Saving Snow Leopards: how scientists fight for the survival of a species
Snow leopards – an exclusively Asian species of large mammals of the cat family – live on the territory of 12 countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,… [...]
Cleaning up after FTX: Kazakhstan aims to regulate the crypto industry
For over a year now, the billion-dollar fraud case surrounding former tech CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been causing an uproar. In Kazakhstan, too, the case caused a stir – mostly… [...]
Kazakhstan stops investment agreement with ArcelorMittal after deadly explosion in Kostenko mine takes 46 lives
On the evening of Saturday October 28th, a fire broke out in the Kostenko mine at a depth of 700 metres, followed by an explosion of a methane-air mixture. 201… [...]
“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,… [...]
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“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… [...]
Kazakhstan: Residents suffer from lack of water
Since May 2023, the capital of Kazakhstan is suffering from a severe water crisis, as a result residents are now facing a shortage of drinking water. According to the government,… [...]
“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… [...]
In Central Asia, the Freedom of Press is in Decline
Almost every year, countries in Central Asia are placed at the bottom of NGO Reporters Without Borders’, annual ranking for the freedom of press. Every country has dropped in ranking,… [...]
“Islands of Soviet power on the steppes”
Out on the Kazakh steppe, in the early days of Soviet rule, so-called red yurts tried to bring the USSR and its communist ideals to those that were most inaccessible… [...]
Kazakhstan: two activists get 15-days detention for peaceful protests against “unfair” election
On May 6, two activists of “Oyan, Qazaqstan” (kaz. for “Wake up, Kazakhstan!”) political movements were detained for protesting the election results. Both have been actively protesting in… [...]