Annual Central Asian 48 Hour Film Race is a program that supports the growth and development of emerging independent filmmakers across Central Asia and inspires videographers and filmmakers to learn, network, and create. The signature event is a two-day film race, challenging participants of all abilities – from novice to professional – to create a four-minute movie, incorporating mandatory elements like a prop and a line of dialogue, in just 48 hours. Completed films are then screened at movie theaters across the region and compete in a juried selection for prizes. The project is supported and sponsored by US Mission to Kazakhstan. At Go Viral festival we will screen TOP10 films from 2019. https://48hourfilmrace.com/
Asel is currently the Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Asian World Film Festival. She is an integral part of the Festival, managing the structure and strategic content as well as coordinating programming. She also controls Festival sponsorship, overseas promotional activities and is the liaison point between Consulates, Embassies, Ministries and various organizations from the Asian Continent. Asel Sherniyazova has an economic and business educational background and for two years studied in China (Shanghai Organization of Cooperation program), representing Kyrgyzstan on the Cross-Cultural Exchange Program. She is fluent in English, Chinese, Russian and Kyrgyz and is a Co-Founder of a Business Consultancy Company in China, an Investment Corporation in the USA and a non-profit organization in Kyrgyzstan. During 2014 Asel worked on the Oscar and Golden Globe campaigns for the multi-award-winning film Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains which was Kyrgyzstan's submission for Best Foreign Language Film, and every year she helps to guide and consult on films from Central Asia submitted for the Golden Globes.
Katrina Goldsaito is the author of the award-winning book The Sound of Silence (Little, Brown and Company), which Maria Popova of BrainPickings called “an illustrated serenade to the art of listening to your inner voice amid the noise of modern life.” Other writing of Katrina’s can be found in NPR, National Geographic, NHK-World, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Japan Times. She acted as Vice-Editor of Tokyo Art Beat. Her travel essay, Assailing Otherness received a Pushcart Prize Nomination. A founding member of the New York NeoFuturists and UnionDocs in Brooklyn, Katrina’s performance art piece Tea Pourings at Om I’m Home invited strangers to connect over intimate conversation in a fresh take on a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Katrina performed in San Francisco at the Luggage Store Gallery, Parlor Art Gallery, Art Night SF and the Parking Lot Art Fair. Katrina’s performance career spans the Volkhsbuhne Theater in Berlin, the Joyce Soho, the Penumbra Theater Company, Cherry Lane Theater, the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, the Maine Shakespeare Festival, the Brooklyn Historical Society among others, and her work has been funded by the Brooklyn Art Council, the Berwick Research Institute and the Earhart Foundation.
Next Notes is a community of musicians of Kazakhstan. We offer programs and workshops for talented young artists to develop their skill set. Our mission is to promote original composition and collaboration. https://www.nextnoteskz.com/
Dmitriy Stupin is the founder of the studio called "Breath Time Creative Agency" which specializes in development and production of various visual solutions for films and television, including aerial photography, 3D photography, Concept Art development, film shooting and color correction of varying degrees of complexity, etc. For more than 20 years of work experience, the company has participated in projects of such TV channels as BBC, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, in production of many feature films and documentaries, music video clips, etc. The company's specialists had trainings and internship in such companies as "Lucas Film", "Alias Wavefront", "RealTime", "Video Smaile", etc. Currently, the studio pays great attention to development and implementation of VR technologies in the field of visual media.
Film director, creative producer, author and head of the online project SHOWMASTER. She received education in several areas in the field of art and culture, including theater, advertising and film education. Her current work he experience is of more than 20 years including television shows and films, information and entertainment programs, as well as most of the formats in the field of shows and public events.
Aigerim Tazhi – a Kazakhstani poet, a finalist of the International Literary Award "Debut" (Moscow, 2011), the winner of the International Literary Competition "Stupeni" (Moscow, 2003). Published in literary magazines of Kazakhstan, Russia, USA and Europe, including “New World”, “Friendship of Peoples”, “Banner”, “Kenyon Review”, “Prairie Schooner”, “Cyphers”, and others. Poems were translated into the English, French , Polish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Uzbek and Kazakh languages. Author of the books of poems "GOD-O-WORDS" (Musaget, Alma-Ata, 2004) and "Paper-Thin Skin " (Zephyr Press, USA, 2019). The book "Paper-Thin Skin "published in two languages - Russian and English (translated by the famous American poet J. Keiths), became the winner of two foreign awards: a special double grant from the National Endowment for the Arts of the USA (NEA), supporting the highest achievements in world art, and the Käpylä Translation Prize (UCONN).
Jonah Goldsaito has been designing and building digital tools that enable content creation for over two decades. The acquisition of his most recent video storytelling app by Google brought him to YouTube where he created new arms of the business around video creation from entirely automated systems to professionally driven services. While pixels and APIs enable much of his exploration, Jonah is equally drawn to building in wood, copper and other mixed media.
Balkhash in a Dream — is a project that combines Anuar’s poetry and Rustem’s music in a partnership way. The task of the project is to immerse the listeners in the specific mood and state, before reading poetry to them. Both music and video are used for this. This does not mean that poetry does not work without strengthening it, but it means that it can become more accessible to a wider audience, who otherwise might never have come across these texts. Anuar Duisenbinov is a poet and translator from Kazakhstan. He was born in 1985 in Andreevka (now Kabanbay), grown up in Taldykorgan and graduated from the economic department of the Lev Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Astana as well as from the Open Literary School in Almaty. He has participated in the poetry festivals in Kazakhstan and Latvia, organized a series of mixed musical and literary events in Astana and has his poetry (written in Russian) published through important Russian web magazines TextOnly and Polutona. He has also translated into Kazakh language some poems of Latvian, Polish, Croatian authors. Rustem Myrzakhmetov is a musician and music producer from Almaty, Kazakhstan. Resident of Object (electronic music and culture project in Almaty) as a DJ. Works in his music studio, writes music for advertisement and movies, cooperates with QAZAQ INDIE independent musicians community.
Balkhash in Dream performance for the first time is accompanied by a video series. Especially for this performance, the artist Saule Dusenbina created a number of video works, not presented anywhere else.
Saule Dusenbina, artist. Born in 1971 in the city of Karaganda. In 1997, she graduated from the Zhurgenev Kazakhstan State Art Academy in Almaty (the department of easel painting). Since 1997, he has participated in the International Festival of Young Artists "Zhiger" in Almaty. In 2002 participated in the International Festival "Shabyt" in Astana. (Laureate 2nd prize). From 2002 to 2018 held 8 solo exhibitions. As an artist, he actively participates in regional and international exhibitions and projects. Engaged in monumental painting in public and private spaces. From 2010 to 2013 she taught at the Art Academy. Zhurgenev. Works are in the State Museum of Arts named after Kasteev (Almaty), in the Museum of Arts named after Nevzorov (Semipalatinsk), AUCA (Bishkek) and in private collections of Kazakhstan, England, Italy, Belgium. Lives and works in Almaty.
Yernar Kurmashev is a Kazakhstani film and animated cartoon producer. He graduated from the Satpayev KazNTU as an engineer. He was an intern at the New York Film Academy on the basis of Universal Studios Hollywood in filmmaking. The founder of Kazakhstan's largest visual effects studio in cinema and 3D-animation “Kazakhstan Computer Graphics”, which includes films such as “A gift to Stalin”, “The Sky of My Childhood”, “Return to A”, “Road to Mother” and “The Leader’s Path of Life. Astana”. He was awarded the international prize "Teffi" in the category "Best Animated Feature" for the project "Batyrlar". In 2015, in collaboration with a film director Akan Satayev, he established a film company called “Astana Film Fund” LLP and produced such films as “Hoods”, “Businessmen”, “Vacations offline”, “Sweet Indifference of the World”, “She” and so on. In 2018, “Astana Film Fund” in collaboration with the Almaty City Administration (City Akimat) established an international film festival called “Almaty Film Festival”. This year “Almaty Film Festival” will be held from Septembe14 to September 20 and will present a large number of world and domestic films.
Ainur was born in Kokshetay and moved to Almaty at her 10. She graduated Turan University in 2002 and Saint Louis University, Missouri in 2012, both as a lawyer. She works in Fond Soros-Kazakhstan providing opportunities of education and rights for disability persons. Ainur started writer career after getting education. In 2015 she was writing for Look.tm trying herself as a blogger. In 2016 she entered online workshop by Alexandr Molchanov where she has studied 3 courses of screenplay writing. In 2017 she was helping in writing dialogues for Mother’s Heart (Habar channel) series screenplay. In 2018 she won the competition (with her play What’s Up 5th B) and entered the final of Drama.kz where she was studying dramaturgy in workshop managed by Olzhas Zhanaidarov.
Marina is theatrical producer born and grow up in Kazakhstan. Her education is Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and University of Tübingen - both as a physiologist. Also, she educated as art manager in Narxoz’s business school. In 2006 she was organizing and supporting events at The FIFA World Cup (Germany). Form 2008 she professionally does photography. Marina has two personal photo exhibits that is Don’t Put a Labels on Woomen (for women that have passed thought violence and stigmatization) and The Tango of My City. From 2015 she is producing theatrical projects such as Kyz Kyy, The Unnecessary Love, Second Hand.
At the festival Marina is producing a play Disconnect… that is based on play of famous Kazakhstan playwright Almira Ismailova. The play creates new viewer's experience for it’s using of artificial intelligence, augmented reality and automatic management of light, sound, and video. The spectacle shows abilities of artificial intelligence for tracing of performances’ context and managing light, sound and video appropriately. On an emotional level the play crates a new viewer’s experience from live interacting of actors with interactive new technologies. Disconnect… shows ironically a gap between modern technologies and archaic society and forecasts it’s inevitable transformation.