Archive of films First Stop / Birinchi bekat

Uzbekistan
2006, 26 min

Section: Documentary Films - Competition
Year: 2007

Renowned director Shukhrat Makhmudov allows us a glimpse of the lives of street children in his native Tashkent. With unsettling directness he records the moving testimonies of homeless children and their time spent in a special centre, a kind of halfway house between the street and the orphanage.

Synopsis

The director allows us a glimpse of the lives of street children in his native city of Tashkent. In the company of police officers, social workers come across huge numbers of children in decrepit housing, many of whom are under the age of ten. They readily take the squalid options open to them: alcohol and glue-sniffing. The reason for their homelessness is nearly always the behaviour of their parents, who beat them or don’t show the slightest interest in them. With unsettling directness, the filmmaker records their moving testimonies to police officials and their time spent in a special centre, a kind of halfway house between the street and the orphanage.

About the director

Shukhrat Makhmudov (b. 1952) studied at the VGIK and then worked as Director of Photography on four feature films. He has made over 90 documentaries during his film career. For his document about the Soviet war in Afghanistan he received the highest domestic award, the Soviet Union State Prize. Selection of award-winning films: The Flame, The Boomerang, Black Ashes (first prize at the Earth Vision Film Festival in Tokyo), House of Cardboard (Special Jury Prize at the Munich FF).

Contacts

National Cinema Agency Uzbekkino
98, Uzbekistansky prospect, 700027, Tashkent
Uzbekistan
Tel: +998 71 144 9691
Fax: +998 71 140 0398
E-mail: [email protected]

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About the film

Color, BETA SP

Section:	Documentary Films - Competition

Director:	Shukhrat Makhmudov
Screenplay:	Roza Mergenbaeva
Dir. of Photography:	Chamidulla Chasanov / Khamidulla Khasanov
Production:	Youth Creation Union Studio-5
Contact:	National Cinema Agency Uzbekkino

Guests

Razika Mergenbaeva

Screenwriter