Film Screenings

The Path 

2025, Kyrgyz with English subtitles
Directed by Aibek Baiymbetov
Screening Time: 40 Minutes

Introduced by Aibek Baiymbetov (Wesleyan U)

This film explores how the performance of the Manas epic continues to endure in modern times in Kyrgyzstan, striving to preserve both the intergenerational continuity of epic storytellers and collective cultural memory. The documentary examines how this oral tradition adapts to contemporary realities while continuing to meet the sociocultural needs of local communities, despite facing inherent challenges in preserving and developing the kyrgyz art of epic storytelling.

Thursday, November 20
5:00-6:45pm
Washington Hilton

40 Days of Silence (Chilla)

2014, Tajik with English subtitles
Directed by Saodat Isamilova
Screening time: 88 minutes

Introduced by Olga Kim (Williams College)

According to the director Saodat Ismailova “40 Days of Silence (2014, 88 min.) is a story about women confronting crucial decisions: motherhood, the weight of tradition, homeland, emotional freedom, religion and self-destruction in modern society. Aside from women’s issues, I want to explore the idea of identity loss, of deep human reevaluation and transformation in a society deeply rooted in Islam, a society that was reshaped by communism and has recently become independent. How all these changes are reflected in these women destinies, in their souls.”

Thursday, November 20
8:00-10:00pm
Washington Hilton

Aka, My Russian Uncle

This film has been cancelled

Cancelled

Behind the Mask: Contemporary Drag Culture in Kazakhstan

2023, Russian and Kazakh with English subtitles
Direct by Tolganay Talgat
Screening time: 30 minutes

Introduced by Saltanat Shoshanova (U of Regensburg)

In Tolganay Talgat’s documentary, artists and performers of different ages, ethnicities, and genders share how they find ways to self-expression and activism in drag. Kazakhstan’s drag scene emerged in the late 90s and is now experiencing a new wave of popularity. In Tolganay Talgat’s documentary, artists and performers of different ages, ethnicities and genders share how they find ways to self-expression and activism in drag. Despite facing prejudice, drag culture continues to attract new audiences and support the queer community.

Friday, November 21
3:30-5:15pm
Washington Hilton

When the Phone Rang (Kada je zazvonio telefon)

2024, Serbian with English subtitles
Directed by Iva Radivojević
Screening time: 76 minutes

Introduced by Adnan Džumhur (UNC at Chapel Hill)
Q&A by Adnan Džumhur (UNC at Chapel Hill) and Dijana Jelača (Brooklyn College)

Through an intimate reconstruction of an important phone call, this drama by Serbian director Iva Radivojević investigates dislocation and the nature of remembering. It follows 11-year-old Lana as her world quietly unravels in early 1990s Yugoslavia after a single phone call brings news of her grandfather’s death. As the country around her begins to fall apart, the film captures the confusion, grief, and strange stillness of growing up in a moment when everything familiar starts to shift. It is a deeply personal, reflective story about childhood, memory, and the quiet ways we feel history pressing in.

Sponsored by UNC at Chapel Hill Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies.

Friday, November 21
8:00-10:00pm
Washington Hilton

Two Poets and a River

2021, Wakhi, Tajik and Dari with English subtitles
Directed by Richard K. Wolf
Screening time: 75 minutes

Introduction and Q&A by Richard K. Wolf (Harvard U)

Using the Oxus River as a topos, this film explores themes of love and loss through the lives and musical poetry of the two most prominent and innovative Wakhi musicians in Central and South Asia, Qurbonsho in Tajikistan and Daulatsho in Afghanistan. In the 19th century their Wakhan homeland became a buffer zone between Czarist Russia and the British Empire and the river Oxus became a border. The condition of being separated by a river grounds the poets’ discussions of love and loss in their own lives as well as in their musical arts.

Saturday, November 22
12:00-1:45pm
Washington Hilton

Dear Mr. P…A Love Letter to James Lloydovich Patterson

2024, Russian and English with English subtitles
Directed by Dmitrii Klychkov
Screening time: 38 minutes

Introduced by Amy Ballard (Smithsonian Institution)
Q&A by Sasha Razor (UC Santa Barbara) and Amy Ballard (Smithsonian Institution)

The son of a Black American father and a Russian Mother, James Lloydovich Patterson was born in Moscow in 1933. In 1936 he starred in the classic Soviet film Tsirk (Circus). Patterson recounts his journey from actor to a captain on a Soviet submarine, to a beloved poet, and at last, his journey to the United State in 1995.

Saturday, November 22
4:00-5:45pm
Washington Hilton