The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925-1991: An Uneasy Legacy

by Peter Rollberg

Overview

This monograph traces the history of Kazakh filmmaking from its conception as a Soviet cultural construction project to its peak as fully-fledged national cinema to its eventual re-imagining as an art-house phenomenon. The author’s analysis places leading directors—Shaken Aimanov, Abdulla Karsakbaev, Sultan-Akhmet Khodzhikov, Mazhit Begalin—in their sociopolitical and cultural context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793641748
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	02/12/2021
Series:	Contemporary Central Asia: Societies, Politics, and Cultures
Pages:	466
Product dimensions:	6.37(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.29(d)

About the Author

Peter Rollberg is professor of Slavic Languages, film studies, and international affairs at George Washington University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The First and Second Birth of Kazakhstani Cinema

Chapter 2: Heroic Interlude in Alma-Ata

Chapter 3: The Third Birth

Chapter 4: The Mid-1950s: A Cautious Emancipation

Chapter 5: En Route to Complexity I: Capturing the Present

Chapter 6: En Route to Complexity II: Capturing the Past

Chapter 7: The Searchings of Shaken Aimanov

Chapter 8: Hits and Anti-Hits

Chapter 9: The New Status Quo

Chapter 10: State Cinema and Its Subversion

Chapter 11: Crisis and Reconstruction

Chapter 12: From Perestroika to Katastroika

Editorial Reviews

This comprehensive and original work is certainly the most important study on Kazakh cinema in the English language. Drawing on deep personal interest and utilizing a sociopolitical lens, Rollberg examines themes of national identity and memory, aesthetics and artistic creation, and the role of viewers in shaping the history of Kazakh film. Rollberg masterfully explicates Kazakhstan’s complicated relationship with Moscow, highlights Central Asia’s unique contributions to film history, and re-affirms Shaken Aimanov as the hero of Kazakh cinema.

Michael Rouland

THE SOVIET ERA OF KAZAKH FILMMAKING HAS BEEN POORLY studied to date, with no volume covering the entire period. Kazakhstani cinephiles will welcome Peter Rollberg’s volume, which reveals the complex, rich and distinct world of cinema that developed in Kazakhstan throughout the Soviet era.... Rollberg’s book is an impressive achievement and stands out as a key text not just on Soviet cinema in Kazakhstan but on Soviet film studies more generally.

Europe-Asia Studies

Peter Rollberg’s history of Kazakh cinema, covering the period from its emergence in the 1920s to the country’s independence the 1990s, is not only the first comprehensive account of film art in Soviet Kazakhstan, but also a truly monumental and detailed survey of the stories on and behind the silver screen, the studio’s relationship with the center, and the appeal of various narratives to the audiences at home and across the Soviet land. Rollberg pays attention not only to the well-known names and films, but also to lesser-known topics such as children’s and youth films, professional training, and the peculiar role of Alma-Ata during WWII, when the country’s major studios and filmmakers were evacuated there. This book will make a fabulous companion and reference guide to Soviet Kazakh cinema.

Birgit Beumers

Peter Rollberg's book fills a double gap. To his meticulous analysis of a filmography that is too-little known, he adds an enlightening look at the singular relationships maintained by this republic, a strategic bridge between Russia and Central Asia, throughout the history of the USSR. By observing the development of the seventh art in a concrete peripheral republic, this book enriches our knowledge of the relationship between center and periphery and allows us to better understand how national identities were forged within the Soviet ideological system.

Jean Radvanyi