12th Eurasia International Film Festival

The 12th edition of the Eurasia International Film Festival was held in Almaty from 24-30 September 2016. The team, led by the famous film director Rachid Nugmanov, set new goals and objectives focusing on bringing the festival out into the city streets and changing the format from the industry-specific to more popular and democratic.

The program of the festival was divided into three parts: “Love for the city”, during which movie screenings were organized in public places; “Love for cinema”, the main competitive and non- competitive programs; and “Love for the profession”, a series of workshops and meetings of industry professionals. Also, in the framework of Eurasia Spotlight Business platform there was a round-table meeting with the topic “Socially significant cinema in Kazakhstan nowadays”. There were presentations of new projects in search of sponsors and producers, and of study opportunities in European film schools for Kazakh film directors.

The screenings program comprised more than 100 films made by directors from Kazakhstan, Central Asian countries and foreign countries. Apart from the feature films competition (which included 13 films from Kazakhstan, Romania, the Philippines, Georgia, Russia, Great Britain, Israel, France, India and Turkey) there was a new short-films competition. For the first time the Eurasia Film Festival presented films a special program by directors from some Arab countries, as well as a section of documentaries and films for children.

The Shaken’s Constellation program was organized with the support from the Akimat of Almaty (mayor’s office), showcasing the best films made by local and Central-Asian directors. Also, the Kazakhstani national prize “Tulpar”, which had been established by the newly founded National Academy of Cinema, was awarded during the festival; it is designed to support and promote local filmmakers and preserve the cultural identity of Kazakhstan’s cinema and film production. It also encourages the best Kazakhstani and Central Asian films and draws attention among the local and international public. (Oleh Baturin, Edited by Birgit Beumers)

Festival: www.eurasiaiff.kz