Mest (Revenge) (Kazakhstan, 1989)
Land of the Fathers (Kazakhstan, 1966)

June 15, 2011 - 7:30 pm

Mest (Revenge) (Kazakhstan, 1989)

"A beautiful, profoundly unsettling film. A true odyssey, geographically and psychologically. One of the greatest films to emerge from the Kazakh New Wave, and one of the toughest." —Kent Jones, World Cinema Foundation

Newly restored print!

Directed by Ermek Shinarbaev

Recently restored by the World Cinema Foundation at the Cineteca di Bologna, in a version presented at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, director Ermek Shinarbaev spins a rich narrative of revenge from a terrifying premise: a child is conceived for the purpose of avenging the death of another child. The first feature to deal with the historical phenomenon of millions of ethnic Koreans displaced by Stalin to Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the 1940s, the film features stunning cinematography and profound allegorical power.

Producer: Habibur Rahman Khan. Screenwriter: Anatoli Kim. Cinematographer: Sergei Kosmanev. Editor: Polina Stein. Cast: Alexandre Pan, Oleg Li, Valentin Te, Lubove Germanova, Rasim Jakibaev.

35mm, color, in Russian with English subtitles, 95 min.

Land of the Fathers (Kazakhstan, 1966)

New Print!

Directed by Shaken Aimanov

A Kazakh man and his grandson travel by train through Russia to retrieve the body of the man’s son, who died as soldier in World War II. Their encounters with other travelers, and especially their discovery of the son’s grave, awaken questions of culture and home. Produced under Soviet rule, the moving film nonetheless affirmed Kazakh identity, and confirmed director Shaken Aimanov as a founding figure of Kazakh cinema.

Screenwriter: Olzhas Suleimenov. Cinematographer: Murat Aimanov. Cast: Elubai Umirzakov, Murat Akhmetov, Tamara Kotova, Yuri Pomerantsev, Viktor Shevtsor.

35mm, b/w, in Russian with English subtitles, 91 min.

Part of:

Kazakhstan: Montage of Cinemas

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