Rashid Nugmanov

Infobox actor
name = Rashid Nugmanov


caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1953|03|19
birthplace = Alma Ata, Kazakhstan
othername = Rachid Nougmanov
occupation = Film director, political activist
yearsactive = 1987-1993
imdb_id = 0637835

Rashid Nugmanov (also written Rachid Nougmanov) (born March 19, 1954 in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakh film director, dissident, political activistDruker, Jeremy, (2003-11-17) "Creative Editing and Other Obstacles for the Kazakh Opposition", "Transitions Online". Retrieved on 2007-11-26.] and founder of the Kazakh New Wave cinema movement. [ [http://ifn.org.uk/user.php?op=userinfo&uname=Rachid%20Nougmanov Profile of Rachid Nugmanov] at the International Freedom Network.]

Film career

After graduating in 1977 from the Architectural Institute in Almaty, Nugmanov enrolled at the prestigious Moscow State Film Institute (VGIK), the world's first institute of cinematography in 1984. [cite journal |last=Brashinsky |first=Michael |year=2000 |title=Igla |journal=International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5212/is_2000/ai_n19127240 |accessdate= 2007-11-26] His debut film, "Igla" (English title: "The Needle"), released in 1989 and starring Victor Tsoi was one of the first films to break the taboo against talking about drug addiction in the former Soviet Union.cite journal |last=Drieu |first=Cloe |year=2000 |month=October |title=Don't Blink Now, It's Kazakhstan |journal=UNESCO Courier |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_2000_Oct/ai_66495271 |accessdate= 2007-11-26] The film was released in the USSR with 1,000 prints in circulation and became a box office hit viewed by over 30 million cinemagoers. The film was also a critical success, winning First Prize at the Nuremberg Film Festival and initiating the "Kazakh New Wave". He declared, in 1990 , the motto of the New Wave of Kazakh cinema:"We demand no unified philosophy nor uniform artistic views on art. We are unified, instead, in our freedom and love of art". ["Tysiacha i odna zabota," "Iskusstuo kino" 4 [1990] : 37)] Nougmanov served as President of the Union of Kazakh Filmmakers from 1989 until 1992, when he wrote, directed and produced "Diki Vostok" ("The Wild East"), a post-apocalyptic punk samurai Ostern which attracted international acclaim at film festivals from Venice to Los Angeles to Tokyo, and was awarded the Prix Special du Jury in Valenciennes, France. The film marked the end of both the Kazakh New Wave and Nugmanov's active directorial career, [cite web
last =Cheah
first =Phillip
title =On the Steppes of Eurasian Cinema
publisher =20th International Singapore Film Festival
url =http://www.filmfest.org.sg/pressrm2.php
accessdate =2007-11-26 ] although he continued to write screenplays throughout the 1990s.

Activism

Nugmanov moved to Paris, France in 1993 and currently serves as the General Director of the International Freedom Network, a London-based think tank created to foster democracy in the former Soviet Union. [ [http://ifn.org.uk/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=1 IFN - Our Mission] - mission statement of the International Freedom Network. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.] A harsh critic of the political regime of Nursultan Nazarbaev, which he has decried as a mafia, [cite conference
first =Rashid
last =Nugmanov
title =Virtual Democracy: The Face Behind A Thousand Masks
booktitle =CESS 4th Annual Conference
date =2003-10-04
location =Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
url =http://ifn.org.uk/article.php?sid=1
accessdate =2007-11-26 ] Nugmanov has been responsible for the international relations of dissident organisations including the Forum for Democratic Forces of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, and For a Just Kazakhstan.

Filmography

* "Dikiy Vostok" (1993)
* "Igla" (1989)
* Iskusstvo byt smirnym (1987)
* Yahha (1986)

References

Further reading

*Plakhov, Andrei, "Soviet Cinema into the 90's" in "Sight and Sound" (London), Spring 1989.
*Ciesol, Forrest, "Kazakhstan Wave", in "Sight and Sound" (London), Fall 1989.
*Horton, Andrew, "Nomad from Kazakhstan: An Interview with Rashid Nugmanov", in "Film Criticism" , Summer 1990.
*Pruner, Ludmila Zebrina, " [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779%28199224%2951%3A4%3C791%3ATNWIKC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 The New Wave in Kazakh Cinema] " in "Slavic Review", Vol. 51, No. 4. (Winter, 1992), pp. 791-801.
*Eisner, Ken, " [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117908003.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 Legit Review] ", "Variety", 1993-12-20.

External links

*imdb name|0637835
*amg name|104743
* [http://movies.nytimes.com/person/104743/Rashid-Nugmanov Rashid Nugmanov] at "The New York Times"