Kyrgyzstan Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Christopher Vourlias Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, an emerging generation of filmmakers born and raised in the independent countries of Central Asia is giving an exhilarating charge to the region’s cinema and helping to put their unheralded industries on the map. Leading Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva says these “children of independence” are bringing a “new attitude” to the screen and giving a jolt of energy to emerging industries that for decades were under Moscow’s thumb.

Christopher Vourlias The first edition of the Alternativa Film Project wrapped with an award ceremony this weekend in Almaty, the cultural capital of Kazakhstan, with filmmakers from Central Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region being feted as part of a new initiative launched by the California-based tech company inDrive, best known for its ride-hailing app. The event marked a successful close to what organizers hope will be an ongoing non-profit initiative aimed at supporting emerging filmmakers from under-developed film industries.

Naman Ramachandran Tatino Films, a French production and consultancy company involved in industry events in Asia and Europe, has teamed with Kazakhstan-based Alternativa Film Project and the Philippines’ QCinema Project Market for three film residencies. The partnership will yield two Pop Up film residencies called the Pop Up Alternativa Awards for filmmakers from Central Asia and one Pop Up QCFC (Quezon City Film Commission) x QCinema Award for Southeast Asian filmmakers to develop their upcoming film projects.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Vietnam-based sales agent Skyline Media has closed multi-territory deals for two of its current titles “The Soul Reaper” and “Vietnamese Horror Story.” The deals follow Skyline’s recent trip to Busan’s ACFM and come ahead of its participation as exhibitor at a string of further final quarter sales events – Tokyo’s TIFFCOM, Santa Monica’s American Film Market and Taipei’s Taiwan Creative Content Fest. Folk horror film “The Soul Reaper,” currently in the final stages of post-production, was licensed to GaragePlay for Taiwan and to Westec Media Limited (WML) for Laos, Cambodia and nine other Southeast Asian territories. The film, adapted from Thao Trang’s best-selling horror novel “Lunar New Year in Hell Village” (aka “Tet O Lang Dia Nguc”), is set to be released in Vietnam cinemas on 08 December. GaragePlay is one of Taiwan’s leading distributors, and recently handles releases of “Suzume,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Someday or One Day.” WML is the biggest content distributor in Cambodia and has distributed more than 1,000 titles theatrically since its establishment.

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iqbal H. Choudhury’s “The Wrestler” and Mori Tatsutya’s “September 1923” were announced joint winners of the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival. “The Wrester” “was like a single round match, magically depicting an exciting narrative,” the jury said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The International Olympic Committee said on Thursday that Swiss-based, Chinese-owned Infront Sports & Media would handle broadcast right sales in much of Asia for the next series of Summer and Winter games. The deal covers 22 territories including Afghanistan, Brunei, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – but not China, Japan or South Korea, and runs 2026-2032. That means it will cover the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Summer games. The 2030 Winter Olympics, which have yet to be allocated a host, and all Youth Olympic Games during this period will also be covered.

An expert has warned that infighting between the military and Vladimir Putin could be the beginning of the end of the Russian warmonger.

Metro Puerto Rico, the delegates of Aguada (Jinny Valentín), Añasco (Ninoshka Rodríguez), and Carolina (Luisa Angélica Vázquez) are among the moms trying to take the title after the Miss Universe organization began allowing young, married, divorced and mothers to compete.The current Miss Puerto Rico, Ashley Ann Cariño Barreto, will crown her successor, on Thursday, August 24, 2023, after a preliminary competition set to take place on Sunday, August 20.Daniela Victoria Arroyo González will also compete for the crown of Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2023 as the first transgender woman in the island’s beauty pageant. “The emotion and pride that I feel in this moment overwhelms me with joy,” Arroyo said in a video.

Trinidad Barleycorn One of the smallest countries in Europe has the highest number of soldiers per capita. This situation is dissected in “Swiss Citizen Soldiers,” one of the six high-end documentaries that will arrive on the circuit in the coming months, and were pitched at the Swiss Films Previews at Visions du Réel, in Nyon, Switzerland. SWISS CITIZEN SOLDIERS “Switzerland has 200,000 soldiers, by far the most per capita in Europe, and most of these soldiers are switching between their job and military service. Almost a third of them have their roots in another country”: this is the starting point of “Swiss Citizen Soldiers” (Echte Schweizer), by Luka Popadić, his first documentary feature after several short films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kamila Andini’s “Before Now and Then” (aka “Nana”) topped the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film and best director. The film, about a gentlewoman’s memories of escaping from a Communist purge, narrowly headed three films with three nominations each: “Poet” (aka “Akyn”) by Kazakhstan’s Darezhan Omirbayev; “This Is What I Remember” (aka “Esimde”) by Kyrgyzstan’s Aktan Arym Kubat; and Philippines director Lav Diaz’s “When The Waves Are Gone” (“Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon”). APSA casts its net wide, seeking honors for cinematic excellence from 78 countries and territories defined as Asia Pacific. The awards will be presented at a ceremony at HOTA on Australia’s Gold Coast on Nov. 11, 2022.

Idris Elba is to narrate and exec a high-end Netflix docu-series about the origins and evolutions of some of the most unique sports in the world.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iranian action drama “World War III,” which won two awards at the recent Venice festival, will feature among the main competition titles at next month’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The festival will operate as an in-person event with foreign filmmakers, media and other guests in attendance from Oct. 24-Nov. 2, 2022. “World War III” is joined in the competition section by the world premiere of Milcho Manchevski’s “Kaymak,” Spanish director Carlos Vermut’s “Manticore” and Roberta Torre’s “The Fabulous Ones,” Michale Boganim’s “Tel Aviv Beirut,” and Youssef Chebbi’s debut film “Ashkal.”

After a lifetime spent creating outrage and offence, both on and off screen, Korean master Kim Ki-duk has left the world with this final film, finished by his friends after his death. The story of a passionate affair that curdles almost immediately into jealousy and hate – but ends on a lyrically wistful note – is a startlingly appropriate rogue’s epitaph.

The latest piece of the international Warner Bros. Discovery management puzzle has slotted into place, as the wider reshaping of the business continues. WBD General Manager Warner Bros. Discovery CEE, Baltics and Middle East (CEE MENAT) Jamie Cooke, who took on his post in June, has unveiled his team. Senior roles have gone to the likes of Lee Hobbs and long-serving Warner Bros. sales exec Roni Patel.

The filmmakers behind some of this year’s Oscar-nominated live action shorts used their films as a platform to bring awareness about issues ranging from bride kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan, to the dehumanization of individuals in the U.S. correctional system.The directors and screenwriters of “Ala Kachuu – Take and Run,” “The Dress” and “Please Hold” sat down for a conversation with TheWrap’s Brian Welk, to discuss the importance of presenting pressing issues to audiences despite obstacles such as having a low budget, tight deadlines and in some cases, a language barrier.“I think it’s really important that the whole world try to watch this thing going on in countries like Kyrgyzstan.

Wilson Chapman editorThe five films nominated for live-action short at this year’s Oscars were shot and produced in five different countries around the world, and tell stories that have little in common with each other, from a satire to a romantic drama. But all were labors of love from talented directors who had to deal with numerous obstacles to get there, whether it was a limited budget or short-shooting times or harsh shooting conditions.

2022 Winter Olympics are underway! The opening ceremony was held on Friday, at Beijing's National Stadium, which is also known as the «Bird's Nest,» and signaled the official start of the Games.The Parade of Nations, the part of the ceremony that highlights each competing nation in the Games, featured many standout moments including a shirtless skeleton competitor, a long-awaited moment for Jamaica, and a Ralph Lauren-clad Team USA.While the U.S. counted its second-largest Olympic delegation in history, other countries had just one athlete set to compete on their behalf. It all came to a close with an epic torch lighting that differed from years past.Keep reading for the five biggest moments from the opening ceremony.With Tonga's Pita Taufatofua sitting out the Olympics for the first time since 2014, fans worried that the cross-country skier's absence would mean they'd be deprived of a shirtless, oiled-up athlete during the Parade of Nations.

Victor Lindelof named Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo as his number one pick for FIFA's TheBest player as the 36-year-old missed out on the top three for the first time since the award's inception.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticPreviously filmed 45 years ago under its original title, leading Soviet-era Kyrgyz literary figure Chingiz Aitmatov’s 1970 novella “The White Ship” gets a handsome new screen treatment in Artykpai Sunyundukov’s “Shambala.” This tale of a boy’s troubled childhood in a remote Tengri Mountains region is the Kyrgyz Republic’s Oscar submission. Its scenic beauty and production gloss certainly invite international exposure.

Best International Feature Film category at the 94th Academy Awards.The film is a portrait of a boy living with his family in a protected mountain forest, whose childhood world of myths and legends begins to clash with the harsh realities of the adult world.“The film reflects on the importance of cultural values, the loss of moral orientation, and the synergetic beauty of both wisdom and youth.

for promoting the birth of his new albums. Governing emojis body The Unicode Consortium has announced its finalized list of new emojis, set to hit devices “sometime next year.”  The 838 new characters in Unicode 14.0 offer 75 more skin tone options and 37 new emoji characters — including pregnant men, potentially useful to “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” singer Nas — plus more obscure options for writing the northeastern Indian language Toto, a Kyrgyz Republic currency sign and undeciphered

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentRussian director Vladlena Sandu’s upcoming TV series “Identification,” whose pilot episode plays Tuesday at Roskino virtual market, Key Buyers Event, starts with four naked female bodies, each with the same tattoo on their neck, found by police in a refrigerator truck on the border between Russia and Finland.Cut to three years later in Moscow where a young woman named Valeria who is an immigrant from the Kyrgyz Republic, and a recent convert to Islam,