Zamanai

Bolat Sharip - Gratitude Prize awarded by the Jury for the Civic spirit and Courage in the creative search - Film "Zaman-Ai". PRIZE-WINNERS OF THE FIRST FILM FESTIVAL ENTITLED SHAKEN＇S STARS - 2003

For example, when Bolat Sharip’s Zamanai (1998) appeared, it had all the prospects of becoming a genuine national film because it told the story of the Kazakh people’s return to their homeland. But probably it appeared at an unsuitable moment, in 1998, when there was no operative system for film distribution. The film was lost and has not been seen by audiences.

In the Kazakh film ＇Zamanai＇, an old Kazakh woman illegally returns to her homeland with her little grandson. She walks through the mountains from China to Kazakhstan. Their long journey is filled with memories of the 1930s, the disastrous period of collectivization and mass starvation, when she and her relatives survived y escaping abroad. After many years, Kazakhstan declared its independence and she old lady brought her little grandson back to the land he belongs to. National patriotic feeling is the subject of respect and admiration in the film. Her children are a lost generation and so she kidnapped her grandson from her own children.