10 Essential Films from Kazakhstan

10 Essential Films from Kazakhstan

Native cinema in Kazakhstan’s own creative voice — the passport route that earns visas and citizenship.

1. 

   1. The Needle

   Игла · 1989

   Returning to Alma-Ata to collect a debt, a laconic drifter finds his old girlfriend hooked on morphine and resolves to help her kick it and take on the dealers who supply her. A cult perestroika-era classic starring rock icon Viktor Tsoi.

   Curator’s note: The Needle ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

2. 

   2. My Name Is Kozha

   Менін атым Кожа · 1963

   A mischievous, good-hearted Kazakh schoolboy is forever tumbling into scrapes and small adventures. A charming, beloved children's film.

   Curator’s note: My Name Is Kozha ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

3. 

   3. The Land of Our Fathers

   Атамекен · 1966

   An old man sets out with his young grandson to recover the body of his son, a soldier killed far away in the war, so he can bury him in his ancestral Kazakh soil, and their journey lays bare the wounds of a nation. A moving drama.

   Curator’s note: The Land of Our Fathers ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

4. 

   4. The Fall of Otrar

   Гибель Отрара · 1991

   This staggering historical epic dramatizes the intrigue, betrayal, and doomed defense of the Central Asian city of Otrar on the eve of its annihilation by Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes. A vast, brutal, visually arresting spectacle.

   Curator’s note: The Fall of Otrar ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

5. 

   5. Tulpan

   Тюльпан · 2008

   Fresh from naval service, a cheerful young dreamer returns to his sister's family herding sheep on the harsh Kazakh steppe, hoping to become a shepherd and marry — if only the one eligible girl for miles would agree to meet him. A warm, funny, windswept comedy-drama.

   Curator’s note: Tulpan ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

6. 

   6. Cardiogram

   Кардиограмма · 1995

   A boy from the remote Kazakh steppe, sent to a distant children's sanatorium to treat a heart condition, encounters the strange, harsh world beyond his village for the first time. A spare, tender coming-of-age drama.

   Curator’s note: Cardiogram ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

7. 

   7. A Dark, Dark Man

   Қап-қара адам · 2019

   A cynical rural detective ready to pin a boy's murder on a convenient suspect has his tidy case upended when a city journalist starts asking questions, forcing him toward an uneasy reckoning with his own complicity. A stark, blackly comic neo-noir.

   Curator’s note: A Dark, Dark Man ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

8. 

   8. The Wounded Angel

   Жаралы періште · 2016

   In a bleak post-Soviet Kazakh village, four teenage boys grope toward adulthood — scavenging for scrap, training in secret, dreaming of escape — as poverty and cruelty press in around them. A stark, austerely beautiful drama.

   Curator’s note: The Wounded Angel ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

9. 

   9. Kelin

   2009

   In the ancient Altai mountains, a young woman brought as a bride to a remote household is forced into marriage, but discovers unexpected passion and a fierce will to survive amid the harsh elements. A nearly wordless, elemental drama.

   Curator’s note: Kelin ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.

10. 

    10. Tomyris

    Томирис · 2019

    This sweeping historical epic tells the legend of Tomyris, the warrior queen of the ancient steppe who, after devastating losses, united the Scythian tribes and stood against the empire of Cyrus the Great. A grand action epic.

    Curator’s note: Tomyris ranks among the strongest manually compared works of Kazakhstan cinema for craft, enduring reputation or cult standing, influence, and national-cinema importance.