The Group of Strategic Vision (GSV) "Russia - Islamic World" based on the results of the XVIII Kazan International Muslim Film Festival decided to award a special prize to "The Narrator" film (Kyrgyzstan) directed by Ernest Abdyzhaparov.
According to the press service of the GSV, the historical film is set in 1922 when young Ybrai Abdrakhmanov from Tashkent comes to a poor narrator Sagynbai Orozbakov on behalf of the Soviet authorities to record his version of Manas (Manas is a Kyrgyz folk epic named after the main character. It reflects the events of the ninth and tenth centuries, a period when the Kyrgyz were a large and powerful people).
The messenger arrived for several months, but stayed with the great narrator Sagynbai Orozbakov for four whole years. The first most complete record of Manas was made from his words, 250 thousand verses. His version of the epos is notable for the large-scale battle scenes and vivid imagery.
Sagynbai Orozbakov's version of Manas consists of a number of independent story lines that unite a group of storied completed episodes. These are the so-called cycles organically connected to each other, which consequently arrange the epic biography of Manas the hero.
Unfortunately, the young Soviet power as the opponent of religion and everything ancient did not support the publication of the book and further popularization of Manas. The works on the epos recording were suspended (only one part out of three was recorded), the materials were transferred to the archives.
At the same time, the film raises such topics as women's education, protection of their rights, the formation of the young Soviet power in the region, as well as the birth of the Kyrgyz ASSR. The film also depicts the everyday life of a poor man and a rich man and the nature of the region.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: KIMFF