- Title: KAZAKHSTAN: Kazakhstan's first-ever Oscar nomination boosts country's creativity
- Date: 28th January 2008
- Summary: (CEEF) ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN (JANUARY 24, 2008) (REUTERS) PRODUCERS OF FILM "MONGOL" GIVING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ONE OF THE FILM'S MAIN PRODUCERS AND SPONSORS, BOLAT GALIMGEREYV, SAYING: "In the first place this a message to Kazakhstan's business and government: Guys, you can export not just oil, gas and grain but also highly creative products."
- Embargoed: 12th February 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kazakhstan
- Country: Kazakhstan
- Reuters ID: LVA6NQH9D12XBIRWV0D0T72W8OTH
- Story Text: Kazakhstan's first-ever Oscar nomination for its film "Mongol"
has boosted confidence of country's film's producers.
A Kazakh-financed film has been nominated for best foreign film at this year's Oscars, a welcome creative boost to this central Asian country that was so heavily lampooned by the hit "Borat" movie.
"This nomination is a message to Kazakhstan's business and government: 'Guys, you can export not just oil, gas and grain but also highly creative products,'" said Bolat Galimgereyev, one of the film's main producers and sponsors at a news conference.
"Mongol", Kazakhstan's first-ever Oscar nod comes after British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen poked fun at the country in the highly successful 2006 movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."
"Mongol", submitted by Kazakhstan in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards, was made by a Russian director and stars Japanese, Mongol and Chinese actors.
The 15 million euro (21.93 million US dollars) film was financed by private Kazakh investors and partly filmed in the steppes and mountains of Kazakhstan, a country the size of Western Europe populated by the descendants of nomadic tribes.
"The film "Mongol" was a joint international project, this is the way we produced it, but it belongs to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The director Sergei Bodrov is a permanent resident of our city Almaty, so to say that the film is not a Kazakh film is not correct. Also, the biggest part of the investment came from the film company EurAzia Film, so it is definitely a movie from Kazakhstan," Galimgereyev said.
The Borat film, which portrayed Kazakhstan as a nation of horse urine-drinking racists, was nominated for best screenplay at the 2007 Oscars, but didn't win.
Director Sergei Bodrov's "Mongol" is a story about survival and war tracing the early life of Mongol conqueror Genghiz Khan, played by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano.
At the February 24 Academy Awards in Hollywood, "Mongol" will compete against "The Counterfeiters" from Austria, "Katyn"
from Poland, the Israeli war drama "Beaufort," and Russia's "12".
Until then the country will have to do with a giant cardboard replica of the Oscar statuette. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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