Film Festival Signals Revived US-Uzbek Ties

An American film festival in the Uzbek capital Tashkent appears to be part of a general revival in cultural ties with the United States.



The festival, a retrospective showing of several major Hollywood films, took place on November 14-16, supported by the US embassy. It was the first such event of its kind, and comes three years after Uzbek-American relations went rapidly downhill following the brutal suppression of a demonstration in Andijan in May 2005, and Washington’s subsequent demand for an independent investigation. As the relationship soured, many US organisations were barred from Uzbekistan and American cultural events were banned. American films were not allowed to be shown in the cinemas.



Cultural ties began to revive this year, after President Islam Karimov won a further term in office in December 2007. In August, the local press gave wide coverage to the celebrations marking the anniversary of Tashkent’s twinning with Seattle.



NBCentralAsia observers say the three-day film festival aroused a lot of interest and was attended by thousands of people. The classic films included Oscar winners Roman Holiday, featuring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, West Side Story with Natalie Wood, John Wayne in The Searchers, and the more recent Toy Story, which broke new ground in its use of animation technology.



Gulandom Mirzoeva, a film buff from Samarkand, came to the capital especially to attend what she regards as a major cultural event.



“The average viewer has little access to early American and international films, so one has to take this opportunity to see them,” she said.



Another participant said she was glad the festival was happening, given the disagreements between the two states.



“It will provide impetus for rebuilding a positive relationship between our country and the US,” she said.



NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service resumed in 2008, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)