Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov

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The film tells a romantic love story set against the background of Tajik Civil War (1992-1996.) Curfews and bursts of tracer bullets piercing the night hardly seem compatible with a love story. In this strange and dangerous time the men of the city are all into gambling. Everybody gambles with everybody. The situation reaches absurd proportions when the main protagonist wins a young woman from her father. Not knowing what to do, the man decides to take the girl into his shlelter – a cable-car station in the mountains. The war seems far away, but soon it reaches even the apparently peaceful refuge as well. The film conveys the atmosphere of war-torn Dushanbe, the spirit of its citizens strengthened by the hardships and absurdities of the strange war. The film was awarded the “Silver Lion” at the International Film Festival in Venice in 1993, the Grand Prix in Saint Petersbourg – 94, and altogether has been screened at over 30 international film festivals. Read More »

Synopsis

“Mix some Monty Python with the violent black humour of Yugoslavian director Emir Kusturica, add a little South American magic realism, and you might have some idea of what goes on in the thoroughly strange and enjoyable Luna Papa, a movie set in the contemporary world of Central Asia. Within the context of its comic, fantastic narrative, about a pregnant teenager and her search for the father of her child whom she has never seen, there`s a darker impression of life revealed in this journey through the outlying former Soviet republic of Tajikistan where gangsterism, military brutality and violent surprises are a normal part of existence.” (Globe and Mail, February 2001) Read More »