Turkmen Cinemas to Reopen
Turkmen Cinemas to Reopen
New measures to restore Turkmenistan’s cinemas need to be accompanied by a relaxation in political censorship of films if they are to succeed, NBCentralAsia analysts say.
A November 28 decree by Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov announced a licensing system for cinematic films and video. The move will allow private businesses to take over and reopen cinema buildings and video halls currently in government hands, and revive film distribution.
Cinema together with ballet, opera and circuses were closed down under Berdymuhammedov’s predecessor Saparmurat Niazov, who felt such entertainments were unsuitable for the Turkmen nation.
From 2000, virtually all cinemas were torn down or given over to other purposes. For example, the Mir picture house in the capital Ashgabat became a wedding hall, while the Druzhba cinema in the northern town of Dashoguz now functions as a disco.
Those that survive are rarely used, generally only on special “Cinema Days” held either when Berdymuhammedov is travelling abroad, or a high-ranking foreign official is visiting Turkmenistan. The films that are shown are handpicked and censored by the authorities.
"The authorities keep a strict eye on it to ensure audiences aren’t exposed to the influence of undesirable ideas,” said an observer in Lebap, a province in eastern Turkmenistan.
Even students in the film direction department of the Culture Institute in Ashgabat complain that they almost never get to watch films as part of their course work.
"In our first year, we attended a film screening just once," said a third-year student at the institute. "We’re supposed to be analysing films. How can we become directors if we haven't even seen quality films?"
NBCentralAsia observers say the gap left by cinemas has been filled by small video halls that show old Turkmen films or else poor-quality pirate copies of action movies and cartoons.
Local observers are pessimistic about the new initiative to allow private-sector involvement in cinemas and film distribution.
"It is not enough to grant licenses – private entrepreneurs must be given the freedom to choose what films to show," said a media-watcher in the capital. "If the authorities allow entrepreneurs to run cinemas but force them to show boring domestically-made films that glorifying the president, audiences won't go to see them."
A businessman in Ashgabat pointed out that other art forms which Berdymuhammedov had promised to revive were still moribund.
Ashgabat’s opera house remains shut, while the music and drama theatre has staged only two plays.
"How can one talk about the opera’s revival?” he asked. “Those [two] plays merely put on for the president. And what about the circus? Have you seen one in Ashgabat? It’s all just promises."
(NBCA 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 has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
A November 28 decree by Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov announced a licensing system for cinematic films and video. The move will allow private businesses to take over and reopen cinema buildings and video halls currently in government hands, and revive film distribution.
Cinema together with ballet, opera and circuses were closed down under Berdymuhammedov’s predecessor Saparmurat Niazov, who felt such entertainments were unsuitable for the Turkmen nation.
From 2000, virtually all cinemas were torn down or given over to other purposes. For example, the Mir picture house in the capital Ashgabat became a wedding hall, while the Druzhba cinema in the northern town of Dashoguz now functions as a disco.
Those that survive are rarely used, generally only on special “Cinema Days” held either when Berdymuhammedov is travelling abroad, or a high-ranking foreign official is visiting Turkmenistan. The films that are shown are handpicked and censored by the authorities.
"The authorities keep a strict eye on it to ensure audiences aren’t exposed to the influence of undesirable ideas,” said an observer in Lebap, a province in eastern Turkmenistan.
Even students in the film direction department of the Culture Institute in Ashgabat complain that they almost never get to watch films as part of their course work.
"In our first year, we attended a film screening just once," said a third-year student at the institute. "We’re supposed to be analysing films. How can we become directors if we haven't even seen quality films?"
NBCentralAsia observers say the gap left by cinemas has been filled by small video halls that show old Turkmen films or else poor-quality pirate copies of action movies and cartoons.
Local observers are pessimistic about the new initiative to allow private-sector involvement in cinemas and film distribution.
"It is not enough to grant licenses – private entrepreneurs must be given the freedom to choose what films to show," said a media-watcher in the capital. "If the authorities allow entrepreneurs to run cinemas but force them to show boring domestically-made films that glorifying the president, audiences won't go to see them."
A businessman in Ashgabat pointed out that other art forms which Berdymuhammedov had promised to revive were still moribund.
Ashgabat’s opera house remains shut, while the music and drama theatre has staged only two plays.
"How can one talk about the opera’s revival?” he asked. “Those [two] plays merely put on for the president. And what about the circus? Have you seen one in Ashgabat? It’s all just promises."
(NBCA 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 has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
