BHUBANESWAR: Multiple Kyrgyz films turned heads on the third day of the fourth edition of Golden Triangle International Film Festival at Gita Govinda Bhawan here Monday.
Kyrgyz movies have featured regularly at GTIFF since the beginning of the festival. This year six movies were brought to the film festival by Cholpon Idrisova, a producer and actress from Kyrgyzstan. The two movies which were screened are ‘Heritage’ and ‘Life is Wonderful’. A total of nine movies were screened on the day.
A Russian movie ‘100 Rubles For a Dream’, which depicts a local TV channel hosting a very popular show with the same name, was the first movie to be screened on the day. The essence of the show is that anyone could come and participate by asking the audience to donate money towards achieving his/her dream. However, nobody in show’s history could collect a significant amount through the initiative.
Documentary film ‘Heritage’ is based on Kyrgyzstan’s popular traditional sport ‘Kok Boru’ aka ‘Dead Goat Polo’. The game starts with players riding the horse and picking up a goat carcass from the ground, race it down the field and throw it into their own teams kazan, a round container that acts as a goal at one end of the field. In doing so, the team earns a point.
The movie tried to depict the ancient game of the country which some says dates back to as early as the 10th to 15th centuries which shows that horse games have been a stable part of the nomadic culture in Central Asia. Not only in Kyrgyzstan but in the neighboring countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Western China, where the same game is also called ‘Buzkashi’, ‘Kokpar’, Kupkari, Ulak Tartysh (translating to ‘pulling carcass’) and ‘Gokburu’ respectively.
The second movie to be screened was ‘Life is Wonderful’, which is based on a man who is completely deprived of vision, but leads an exciting life. He is a wonderful family man, an excellent teacher, a man with his own point of view of all events taking place around him. A person who, without a shadow of embarrassment calls himself physically disabled person and who is trying to protect the rights of disabled people.
This visually impaired person seeks moral support from city authorities in the form of small changes in urban transport routes, so that the disabled people in the mornings could get to their work and study places faster.
President of the festival Priya Ranjan Sahoo said, “Kyrgyz movies have their unique style. Directectors use a style of filmmaking which is different from other parts of the world.”
Idrisova said, “Most of the movies in Kyrgyzstan are made with support of the government. This has its own pros and cons. We encourage other countries including India to come to our country for filmmaking. This would help our industry as well.”
“We are planning to organise the festival in other cities of the state such as Puri Konarka and Cuttack from next year,” said Sahoo.