Gita Saedi Kiely
USA
Director of the humanitarian organisation FilmAid which supports and educates refugees and members of other communities in need through film.
Industry Days
The new film project, Alternativa Film Awards, is hosting Industry Days – a series of events for representatives of the cinema industry and the mainstream audience in Almaty. Keynote events include a public talk with Filipino director and producer Brillante Mendoza, a roundtable debate on cinema as a tool for public discussion with the participation of international filmmakers, and a public talk with representatives of the Central Asian cinema industry.
Alternativa Film Awards Industry Programme Partner - AlmaU
Public talk with Brillante Mendoza, director
2 December 2023
11:30 - 13:00
ALMAU Atrium
227 Rozybakiev Street
The keynote event for the audience during Industry Days is a public dialogue with the director, including a Q&A session. The discussion will focus on the role played by filmmaking in society and the director’s career.
Brillante Mendoza is the first Filipino director and producer to win the Best Director Award of the Cannes Film Festival for his 2009 film Kinatay, and the first Filipino to be awarded France’s Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). Mendoza's films Mindanao (2019), Mama Rosa (2016), The Trap (2015), The Womb (2012) and Lola (2009) have also participated and won awards at the Berlin and Venice Film Festivals. Mendoza is an active supporter of young Filipino filmmakers and has consistently advocated for better film education in the Philippines: he has set up a film fund and film festival in his country and regularly holds master classes on the art of directing films.
Brillante Mendoza will talk about his experience as a director, the contemporary role of cinema and impact films, the evolution of film language and development trends in the Philippine film industry with film students from Almaty, film critics, researchers and filmmakers from Central Asia and the Asian region.
Moderator:
Film critic Gulazhar Mashrapova
Language:
English + simultaneous translation into Kazakh and Russian
Public talk "Cinema as a tool for public discussion"
2 December
13:30 - 15:00
AlmaU Atrium
227 Rozybakiev Street
How does cinema influence social change and foster public discussion? This will be discussed by members of the jury and the expert council of Alternativa Film Awards, which includes the curators of festival and cultural centres, film critics, directors, producers and cultural journalists from Central Asia and other Asian countries, representatives of international non-governmental organisations and the creative industries of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, who have experience of implementing projects at the confluence of cinema and impact, as well as the directors and producers of films which have an explicit social message and have become well known in Central Asia.
Moderator:
Gita Saedi Kiely, Director of the FilmAid humanitarian organisation (USA)
Language:
English + simultaneous translation into Kazakh and Russian
Prasanna Vithanage
Sri Lanka
A pioneer of Sri Lankan cinema. His films have won numerous national and international awards and have been hits in his home country.
Rintu Thomas
India
Documentary filmmaker, director and producer. Her debut feature film, Writing With Fire, was the first Indian documentary to be nominated for an Oscar and won two Sundance Awards in 2021.
Yoon Lee
South Korea
Producer, women’s rights activist, researcher of gender violence and media culture, founder and CEO of Poljjak Film, a production company making films that perceive the world from a woman’s perspective.
Elina Karakulova
Kyrgyzstan
Media expert and advisor to Internews in Kyrgyzstan.
Matthieu Darras
France
Designs and leads several programs of film/talent development and consultancy that are active worldwide: the First Cut Lab, the Pop Up Film Residency, and the Full Circle Lab.
Public talk with Central Asian filmmakers "Central Asian Identity: Cinematic Narratives and Trends"
3 December 2023
13:00 - 14:30
Smart Point
280 Baizakov Street
The cinema of a new generation of Central Asian filmmakers is in many ways shaping the identity and distinctiveness of the region in the world. Directors and producers, award nominees, the members of the jury and selection committee of the award, as well as Central Asian filmmakers and institutes developing the film industry in Central Asia. will discuss how the region's cinema should look today, what values it reflects, how it can be developed and integrated in global cinema and how to engage in dialogue with local audiences.
Moderator:
Actor and screenwriter Karim Kadyrbayev
Language:
Russian
Bayan Alaguzova
Kazakhstan
Film actress, TV presenter and singer. She produced a drama about domestic violence “Happiness” which caused a stir and won the Audience Award at the Panorama section at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale.
Aisultan Seitov
Kazakhstan
Film and music video director and the founder of QARA Studios. He won the award of Best Director at the Shanghai Film Festival with his debut film Kash which was screened at several prestigious international film festivals.
Katerina Suvorova
Kazakhstan
Documentary filmmaker. Her films are inspired by the everyday experience of diverse communities in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. She is the founder of Quiet Light, an independent documentary film studio in Almaty which specialises in making films on socially significant topics.
Janyl Jusupjan
Kyrgyzstan
Film director and camerawoman. Previously, art director of the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Kyrgyzstan, she won an award of the Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) for a series of radio programmes called ”The Invisible Women of Osh”.
Yuliya Kim
Kazakhstan
Film producer from Kazakhstan based in Paris. She is the founder of East Wind Production, a production company which promotes the development of international cooperation and the co-production of films in Kazakhstan.