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{{Infobox cinema market
| name = Cinema of Kazakhstan
| image = Kazakhstan film.svg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| screens = 213 (2014)<ref name=neva/>
| screens_per_capita = 1.2 per 100,000 (2006)<ref name=screens_uis>{{cite web|title=Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity|url=http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=5542|publisher=UNESCO Institute for Statistics|accessdate=February 17, 2014}}</ref>
| distributors =
| produced_year = 2009
| produced_ref = <ref name=production_uis>{{cite web|title=Table 1: Feature Film Production - Genre/Method of Shooting|url=http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=5545|publisher=UNESCO Institute for Statistics|accessdate=February 17, 2014}}</ref>
| produced_total =
| produced_fictional = 12 (100%)
| produced_animated = -
| produced_documentary = -
| admissions_year = 2013
| admissions_ref = <ref name=neva/>
| admissions_total = 10,900,000
| admissions_per_capita = 0.64
| admissions_national = 700,000 (6.4%)
| box_office_year = 2013
| box_office_ref = <ref name=neva>{{cite web|title=Kazakhstan Film Market|url=http://nevafilm.ru/english/reports/06-2014-kazahkstan-film-market/_titled_attachments/Kazakhstan_eng.pdf|publisher=Nevafilm|accessdate=29 July 2014}}</ref>
| box_office_total = $63.6 million
| box_office_national =
}}
{{Culture of Kazakhstan}}
'''Cinema of Kazakhstan''' refers to the [[film industry]] based in [[Kazakhstan]]. [[Film|Cinema]] in Kazakhstan can be traced back to the early 20th century. Today, Kazakhstan produces approximately fifteen full-length films each year.<ref name="Kazakhstan">{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-kazakhstan-selects-amanat-foreign-933701 |title=Oscars: Kazakhstan Selects 'Amanat' for Foreign-Language Category |first=Nick |last=Holdsworth |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=29 September 2016 |accessdate=29 September 2016}}</ref>

==History==
===1930s-1980s: the Soviet period===
The [[film industry]] in Kazakhstan has its origins in the production of documentaries in [[Almaty|Alma-Ata]] (now Almaty) in the 1930s, developed to use as instruments for [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet propaganda]].<ref name="History of Cinema of Kazakhstan">{{cite web|url=http://www.filmbirth.com/kazakhstan.html|title=History of Cinema of Kazakhstan|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=FilmBirth.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.valikhanov.si.edu/sec1_discover-kaz/sec1_3_kazakhstan.html|title=Kazakhstan Today|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=Valikhanov.si.edu}}</ref> The first Kazakh feature film, ''Amangeldy'' (1939), about the leader of the 1916 revolution, Amangeldy Imanov, was however the work of [[Lenfilm]] in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DE5DF1530E53ABC4E52DFB0668382629EDE|title=The screen in review; Comedy Lifts Its Head Again in 'Clouds Over Europe' at the Music Hall--'Land of Liberty' Opens at the Fair--'Amangeldy' Is Seen at the Cameo|author=Frank S. Nugent|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=The New York Times}}</ref> [[Filmmaking]] in Kazakhstan was given a boost by the dislocations caused by [[World War II]], as the main [[Cinema of the Soviet Union|Soviet film]] studios, [[Mosfilm]] and [[Lenfilm]], were both evacuated to Alma-Ata, where they combined with the [[Kazakhfilm|Alma-Ata Film Studios]] to produce the Central United Film Studio.<ref name="History of Cinema of Kazakhstan"/> As a result, the Central United Film Studio, which continued working in Alma-Ata till 1944, produced 80 percent of all Soviet domestic feature films made during the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kazworld.info/?p=16808|title=Kazakh Cinema Celebrates 70th Anniversary|date=October 4, 2011|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=KazWorld.info}}</ref> Much of the great Soviet director [[Sergei Eisenstein]]'s two part epic ''[[Ivan the Terrible (film)|Ivan the Terrible]]'' was filmed in the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]].<ref>Perrie, Maureen. ''The Cult of Ivan the Terrible in Stalin's Russia (Studies in Russian and Eastern European History and Society) ''. New York: Palgrave, 2001 (hardcopy, ISBN 0-333-65684-9).</ref> One of the major Soviet [[film school]]s, the [[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography]] (VGIK), was also temporarily relocated to Alma-Ata during the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0812492/bio|title=Lyubov Sokolova - Biography - IMDb|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=IMDb.com}}</ref> This film school became an alma-mater for the most notable Kazakh filmmakers of the 1960s, known as "the new wave".<ref>{{cite web|author=Peter Lennon|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/jan/27/artsfeatures|title=The Kazakhs are coming|date=January 27, 2003|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=The Guardian}}</ref> On January 6, 1961, the major Kazakh film company Alma-Ata Film Studios had its name changed to Kazakhfilm by the Ministry of the Culture of the Kazakh SSR.<ref name="History of the Kazakhfilm">{{cite web|url=http://195.210.47.145/company/our_history/history/|title=History of the Kazakhfilm|language=ru|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=Kazakhfilm}}</ref>

In the post-war Soviet period, the major figure of Kazakh SSR's film industry was director [[Shaken Aimanov]], in whose honor the [[Kazakhfilm]] film studios were renamed in 1984.<ref name="History of the Kazakhfilm"/> Notable films of this period include a number of [[historical epics]], such as the love tragic story ''Kyz-Zhibek'' (1970),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2977364/|title=Kyz-Zhibek (1970) - IMDb|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=IMDb.com}}</ref> and a trio of action films involving a secret agent, played by Asanali Ashimov, who uses all manner of derring-do to defeat the enemies of [[communism]]. The first in the [[trilogy]], ''The End of the Ataman'' (1970), was set in 1921 and was directed by Shaken Aimanov.<ref name="The End of the Ataman">{{cite web|url=http://worldcinemadirectory.co.uk/component/film/?id=446|title=The End of the Ataman|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=WorldCinemaDirectory.co.uk}}</ref> The second, ''The Trans-Siberian Express'' (1977),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076838/releaseinfo|title=Transsibirskiy ekspress (1977) - IMDb|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=IMDb.com}}</ref> directed by Yeldar Orazbayev and set in 1927, featured a complicated plot involving the defeat of counter-revolutionaries planning to kill a [[Japan]]ese businessman on a train bound for [[Moscow]], on which our hero was masquerading as a cabaret manager. The third, ''The Manchurian Variant'' (1989), was set in 1945 [[Manchuria]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kazakhfilmstudios.kz/en/press/news/7022/|title=Legendary film "The end of Ataman" celebrates its 40 anniversary (video)|date=December 14, 2010|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=Kazakhfilm}}</ref> The films, with their central hero played by a Kazakh actor, were, as well as entertainment, part of the efforts of the Soviet establishment to demonstrate that the Kazakh people fully supported communism.<ref name="The End of the Ataman"/>

===Late 1980s-early 1990s: Kazakh New Wave===
{{Expand section|date=February 2017}}
With [[perestroika]] in the Soviet Union of the 1980s emerged a new wave of young Kazakh filmmakers, ready to challenge the cinematic establishment. A catalyst for this new movement in Kazakh film was provided by ''[[Needle (1988 film)|The Needle]]'' (Игла;1988), the first film directed by [[Rashid Nugmanov]], who cast as his central figure [[Viktor Tsoi]], front-men of the rock group [[Kino (band)|Kino]] and also hero to disaffected Soviet youth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/8050/#.UwF82kBSJaE|title=Cult Movie The Needle (Igla) to be Continued|date=April 13, 2009|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=Russia-ic.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0637835/bio|title=Rashid Nugmanov - Biography - IMDb|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=IMDb.com}}</ref> Kino also contributed a soundtrack. Tsoi's character returns to Alma-Ata to collect money he is owed, only to find out that his former girlfriend has become a drug addict. He decides to fight against the drug pushers and it all ends badly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2010/cteq/igla-the-needle/|author=Greg Dolgopolov|title=Igla (The Needle)|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=SensesOfCinema.com}}</ref> Another important founding work of the movement is [[Yermek Shinarbayev|Ermek Shinarbaev]]'s 1989 film ''[[The Red Flute|Revenge]]'' (Месть), which tackles on film for the first time the tragedies experienced by the Korean population in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

===1990s-2000s: the post-independence Kazakhstan===
[[File:Timur Bekmambetov by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|[[Timur Bekmambetov]] is the first Kazakh director who had success in Hollywood.]]
In 1993, Nugmanov directed ''[[The Wild East]]'', loosily based on [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[Seven Samurai]]'', involves a group of dwarves, runaways from the circus, who brings the magnificent seven to protects them from the predations of motorbike-riding [[Mongolia]]n hoodlums.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://survinat.com/2012/11/wild-east-1993-3/|title=Wild East (1993)|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=Survinat.com}}</ref> Nugmanov moved to [[Paris]] in 1993, where he has been associated with Kazakh political opposition groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.topspeaker.org/speakers/speaker-nugmanov|title=Rashid Nugmanov (Nougmanov)|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=TopSpeaker.org}}</ref> Other filmmakers of the post-independence Kazakhstan to have achieved success at international festivals include Satybaldy Narimbetov.<ref name="Satybaldy Narimbetov">{{cite web|url=http://www.filmfestival.gr/2003/uk/st-narimbetov.html|title=Satybaldy Narimbetov|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=Thessaloniki International Film Festival}}</ref> His ''Biography of a Young Accordion Player'' (1994) is a tale of a small boy growing up in a Kazakh village during [[World War II]].<ref name="Satybaldy Narimbetov"/> ''Leila's Prayer'' (2002) focuses on girl from a village close to the [[Semey|Semipalatinsk]] [[Anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan|nuclear test site]], whose mother prayer is that her baby son should live to old age.<ref name="Kazakh Cinema Between 1998 and 2003">{{cite web|url=http://www.kinokultura.com/articles/jan04.html|title=Stars Above Almaty: Kazakh Cinema Between 1998 and 2003|author=Vladimir Padunov|date=January 4, 2004|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=KinoKultura.com}}</ref> [[Darezhan Omirbaev]]'s ''[[Killer (1998 film)|Killer]]'' (1998), a Kazakh-[[France|French]] [[International co-production|co-production]], is a tragic tale highlighting the economic difficulties by Kazakhstanis in the 1990s.<ref name="Kazakh Cinema Between 1998 and 2003"/><ref name="Killer (1998)">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/162524/Killer/overview|title=Killer (1998)|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=The New York Times}}</ref> A young driver from [[Almaty]] causes a minor motor accident when taking his wife and newborn baby back home from the hospital. Unable to pay for the damage, he gets sucked into crime.<ref name="Killer (1998)"/> Amir Karakulov has garnered critical praise for a number of films, including ''Homewrecker'' (1991), a tale of two brothers in love with the same girl.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://megabook.ru/article/РАЗЛУЧНИЦА|title=Homewrecker (''Разлучница'')|language=ru|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=MegaBook.ru}}</ref> Again, it all ends badly. A new arrival on the scene is Rustem Abdrashev. His directorial debut was ''Renaissance Island'' (2004), a tale of the first love of an aspiring poet set against the historical backdrop of the desiccation of the [[Aral Sea]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kinokultura.com/reviews/R104ostrov.html|title=Rustem Abdrashev: Renaissance Island (Ostrov vozrozhdeniia) (2004)|accessdate=February 17, 2014|publisher=KinoKultura.com}}</ref>

One problem is that very few of these films have been widely seen by audiences in Kazakhstan. Domestic [[Film distribution|distributors]] have preferred to rely a diet of [[Dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbed]] [[Hollywood]] [[Blockbuster (entertainment)|blockbuster]]s and big-budget [[Russia]]n movies, with the result that post-independence Kazakh cinema has developed something of a reputation a being more likely to be found in Western art houses and international competitions than on screens in Kazakhstan. However, [[Film budgeting|the big-budget]] Kazakhstan film has arrived. ''[[Nomad (2005 film)|Nomad: The Warriors]]'' (2005), with its international crew and cast, was an officially supported attempt to bring a film based on an exploits of Kazakh warriors of the 18th century onto international screens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374089/|title=Nomad (2005), a Kazakh film by Sergei Bodrov and Ivan Passer|date=June 6, 2008|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=IMDb.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Dina Iordanova|url=http://www.dinaview.com/?p=116|title=Кочевник (2005) ''(Nomad: The Warriors)''|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=DinaView.com}}</ref> ''Racketeer'' (2007), directed by Akan Satayev, about as a young Almaty in the tough economic climate of the 1990s, was billed as the first purely commercially oriented film made in the post-independence Kazakhstan, and proved a considerable box-office draw.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677719/|title=Рэкетир (2007) ''Racketeer (2007)''|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=IMDb.com}}</ref> One Kazakh director, [[Timur Bekmambetov]], has also had success internationally in [[Commercial broadcasting|commercials cinema projects]], particularly with the Russian fantasy features ''[[Night Watch (2004 film)|Night Watch]]'' (2004) and ''[[Day Watch (film)|Day Watch]]'' (2006).<ref name="Bekmambetov Is Off To See The Warriors, The Wonderful ‘Warriors Of Oz’">{{cite web|author=Luke Ryan Baldock|url=http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2013/07/23/bekmambetov-is-off-to-see-the-warriors-the-wonderful-warriors-of-oz/|title=Bekmambetov Is Off To See The Warriors, The Wonderful ‘Warriors Of Oz’|date=July 23, 2013|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=TheHollywoodNews.com}}</ref> Bekmambetov is now directing and producing movies in [[Hollywood]].<ref name="Bekmambetov Is Off To See The Warriors, The Wonderful ‘Warriors Of Oz’"/> His notable works made in Hollywood includes ''[[Wanted (2008 film)|Wanted]]'' (2008), ''[[The Darkest Hour (film)|The Darkest Hour]]'' (2011) and ''[[Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter]]'' (2012).

==Cinemas==
[[File:AKXLokomotiv.jpg|thumb|right|Lokomotiv Cinema in [[Aktobe]] was built in 1928 during the Soviet period.]]
Cinemas in Kazakhstan range from draughty Soviet survivals to modern [[Multiplex (movie theater)|multiplex complexes]]. The market of cinemas is mainly divided between the [[KinoPark Multiplex Cinemas]], [[StarCinema]], [[Arman (cinemas)|Arman]] and smaller players.<ref name="Film Industry">{{cite web|url=http://business.voxpopuli.kz/en/post/view/id/1040|title=Film Industry|date=March 29, 2013|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=VoxPopuli.kz}}</ref> Kazakhstan's new cinemas are usually located in shopping malls and entertainment centers.<ref name="Film Industry"/> Ticket prices are lower than those in [[Western Europe]] and [[North America]]. In 2012, [[IMAX Corporation|IMAX Corp.]] opened those two cinemas in Kazakhstan, as the result of the deal signed with KinoPark Multiplex Cinemas in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.tengrinews.kz/cinema_and_music/PHOTO-First-IMAX-cinema-opened-in-Almaty-14338/|title=First IMAX cinema opened in Almaty|date=November 12, 2012|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/imax-to-open-its-first-cinemas-in-kazakhstan-2083368.html|title=IMAX to open its first cinemas in Kazakhstan|date=September 19, 2010|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=TengriNews.kz}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imax.com/countries/KZ/|title=Welcome to IMAX in Kazakhstan|accessdate=February 18, 2014|publisher=IMAX.com}}</ref> Films originally made in English are almost invariably dubbed, not subtitled, but there is a little shown in English.

==Festivals==
[[File:Red Carpet at AIAFF.jpg|thumb|right|border|Red Carpet at the International Astana Action Film Festival in 2012.]]
*[[International Astana Action Film Festival]]
*[[Shaken's Stars]]
*[[Eurasia International Film Festival]]

==Film schools==
*[[Kazakh National Academy of Arts]]
*[[Kazakh National University of Arts]]

==See also==
*[[Borat]]
*[[World cinema]]
*[[History of cinema]]
*[[Cinema of the world]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
*[http://www.kazakhstan.com/v/cinemas/ List of Kazakhstan cinemas] on the [http://www.kazakhstan.com/ Kazakhstan.com]
*[http://kazakhworld.com/kazakh-cinema-an-epic-story-on-the-silver-screen/ Kazakh Cinema: An epic story on the silver screen]
{{Cinema of Kazakhstan}}
{{World cinema navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cinema Of Kazakhstan}}
[[Category:Cinema of Kazakhstan| ]]

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