15.09.2025 | HER FIVE LIVES – Feminist Filmmaking from Central Asia
HER FIVE LIVES
UZ 2022, D: Saodat Ismailova, 13’, no dialogue, DCP
FARANGIS
TJ 2022, D: Lolisanam Ulugova, 22’, Russian OV with English subtitles, DCP
AUTONOMY
UZ 2022, D: Zumrad Mirzalieva, 7’, no dialogue, DCP
THE LATE WIND
KZ 2023, D: Shugyla Serzhan, 23’, Kazakh OV with English subtitles, DCP
MOSCOW TIME
KG 2020, D: Gulzat Egemberdieva, 12’, Kyrgyz OV with English subtitles, DCP
More than three decades after the collapse of the USSR, the geopolitical challenges for the independent and young nations of Central Asia remain – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan navigate complex dependencies between the West, Russia and China. Amidst these socio-political tensions, film has become an important mouthpiece for a post-Soviet generation. Female filmmakers in particular are taking a critical look at their social role, which is shaped by both the Soviet legacy and Islam.
Apart from a few independent initiatives such as the Tashkent Film School, however, the region still lacks local infrastructure for film education. Only a few have been able to attend film schools in Europe, the USA or Moscow. Women in particular are disadvantaged both financially and socially when it comes to studying abroad, as in countries shaped by Muslim-conservativism, patriarchal structures mean that women remain subordinate to men. Yet, “women’s emancipation” was once a central political instrument of the Bolsheviks: in 1918, they enshrined gender equality in the constitution and became the first country in the world to legalise abortion. Staged by men, the “liberation” of Muslim women from Central Asia became a popular subject in socialist-influenced films. However, unlike actresses, there were few female directors in the Soviet era (let alone any from Central Asia) – their propagated emancipation ultimately remained limited to a passive and representative role in front of the camera.
Thanks to technological advances and the knowledge brought back by filmmakers from the diaspora, a growing Central Asian film scene has developed over the past two decades, producing remarkable female voices. Borrowing the title of the first short film, HER FIVE LIVES presents five stories by and about women. Probably the best-known filmmaker from the region is Saodat Ismailova, who hails from Uzbekistan and is also internationally renowned as an artist. Her works take a critical and feminist look at the history of her country, as in the short film HER FIVE LIVES, which is entirely composed of archive material. Focusing on Uzbek actresses, she reinterprets the history of women against the backdrop of changing political ideologies in her homeland.
In 2022, Ismailova founded the DAVRA collective with female artists from Central Asia. Among them is Zumrad Mirzalieva, who raises a central question in AUTONOMY: Are there other female role models in Uzbekistan besides motherhood and marriage? Lolisanam Ulugova from Tajikistan examines similar challenges in FARANGIS: her protagonist is a 25-year-old prima ballerina who, under increasing social pressure, must choose between marriage and her dancing career. In THE LATE WIND, Kazakh director Shugyla Serzhan tells the story of a woman whose partner disappears without a trace after she announces her pregnancy, leaving her to face social stigma. In the background, protests against President Tokayev’s energy policy rage in the streets of Almaty, which were violently suppressed by the Kazakh government in early 2022. In MOSCOW TIME, Gulzat Egemberdieva takes a sensitive look at a young girl in a Kyrgyz “ghost village” that flourished during the Soviet era thanks to mining. Her mother lives as a migrant worker in distant Russia – will she follow her when she grows up?
The programme was curated by Azem Bekturova and highlights five voices from a region that has received little attention to date, in which women take a critical look at the past and ask essential questions about their future, while the processes of identity formation and development continue in Central Asia.
| Mo 15 Sept 2025 | Schaubühne Lindenfels |
| 6:30 PM | € 7,5 (6,5 reduced) In the presence of Gulzat Egemberdieva (director) and Tolganay Talgat (director, actress in THE LATE WIND) – in conversation with curator Azem Bekturova |
