Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - At the XV Tashkent International Film Festival “Pearl of the Silk Road” a number of events were held aimed at developing cinematic ties between Russia and Uzbekistan: Days of Russian Cinema, organized by ROSKINO with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, creative meetings and master classes of Russian directors, actors and producers took place. New joint projects between Russia and Uzbekistan were also presented.

The days of Russian cinema under the Russian Film Festival brand opened with the fantastic drama “Mira”. The opening ceremony was attended by Acting General Director of ROSKINO Ekaterina Naumova, producer of the film “Mira” Narek Martirosyan, Russian film and theater stars Elizaveta Boyarskaya, Larisa Luppian, actor Farhad Makhmudov. The drama “Mira,” which tells the story of an orbital station worker who is trying to save his daughter and prevent a disaster, attracted a full house. As Mira producer Narek Martirosyan noted, the Uzbek audience received the film very warmly. In addition, as part of the Days of Russian Cinema, viewers saw the drama “Bullfinch” by Boris Khlebnikov, the comedy “The Young Man” by Alexander Fomin and the family film “Chuk and Gek. Big Adventure" directed by Alexander Kott, who personally presented the film to the audience.

Director Alexander Kott: “Families with children came to the film about Chuk and Gek, the hall was full. I think that the audience felt the same emotions that I felt when I made this movie. It was great that almost everyone spoke Russian. In general, I believe that Russia and Uzbekistan have broad prospects for cooperation in the field of cinema, because the first thing I noted was a very good attitude towards Russia and our culture, and I would, of course, like to participate in a joint project: I think that this could be a very beautiful fairy tale.”

Traditionally, within the framework of the Tashkent Film Festival, much attention is paid to the development of industrial dialogue. In 2022, the Uzbekistan Cinematography Agency signed several memorandums with Russian filmmakers, including a Memorandum of Cooperation with ROSKINO. Projects that were discussed a year ago are already being implemented. Thus, as part of the film festival, at the presentation of joint projects, an investigative documentary film “Mosque” (a project jointly with the Russian film studio “Lendok”) was presented about the last emirs of Bukhara and the Cathedral Mosque, which appeared in St. Petersburg against all odds. Currently, the script has already been written, research work and preparation for production are underway: filming of the old city, mosques and madrassas for the trailer and film materials was carried out in Bukhara.

The release is planned for 2025. In addition, according to the general director of the Lendok film studio, Alexey Telnov, Lendok and the Uzbekistan Cinematography Agency are preparing a joint project “The Magic Jug” - a family film in the genre of a fairy-tale road movie; production is planned for 2024. “We scouted locations for the film in Bukhara, which itself has an amazing “fairy-tale” texture and color, met the city administration, and assessed production capabilities. The city has not only a developed structure for film production, but also huge technical and artistic potential, and most importantly, a human resource - experienced and professional people,” noted Alexey Telnov.

Also among the Russian films, part of which will be filmed in Uzbekistan, is the project about the 1980 Olympics “Games”, the drama “Ring Behind Barbed Wire” about the great boxer and surgeon Andrei Borzenko.

In addition, director Alexey Uchitel, holding a master class at the Tashkent branch of VGIK as part of the festival, noted that he plans to make a film about the composer Dmitry Shostakovich and one of the episodes will be filmed in Uzbekistan.

Russia, in turn, also attracts Uzbek filmmakers in terms of filming Uzbek films using Russian locations. The head of the international department of the Cinematography Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Sayora Khudaiberdieva, who took part in the recent ROSKINO film location tours to Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg, noted: “Perhaps we will soon visit the Kaliningrad region again, we want to come for scouting to the abandoned Allenberg hospital, which impressed us as part of location tour ROSKINO. We plan to use this location for a new Uzbek film.”