Film Festival 09 - Tulpan
Tulpan
Kazakhstan/Germany/Switzerland/Russia/Poland 2008, 100m
Director: Sergei Dvorrtsevoy
Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard), Toronto, New York,
Vancouver, London 2008; Rotterdam, San Francisco 2009
Prize Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival 2008
Best First Film, London Film Festival 2008
A mesmerising, weirdly perfect blend of fish-out-of-water comedy,
ethnographic documentary, social realism and awesome landscape
photography, Tulpan provides an unforgettable journey to the Kazakh
steppe.
After completing his naval service, young Asa, proudly decked out
in his sailor's uniform, travels to the steppe where his sister
lives with her shepherd husband. Told he must be married before he
can become a shepherd himself Asa sets his heart on Tulpan, the
only young woman for miles around. "No way", says she, "not with
those ears". As Asa's sweet dream of a traditional life on the
steppe butts up against one harsh reality after another we're
granted an enthralling picture of the elemental world he's
determined to make his own. - Bill Gosden.
"Filmed on Kazakhstan's imposing Hunger Steppe, whose vast,
sand-blown vistas suggest a Monument Valley stripped of its
monuments, Dvortsevoy's first fiction feature transports us to a
place most will never visit, where life is lived as it was
centuries ago but whose inhabitants seem wonderfully familiar&
Graced by a Chaplinesque sense of the humor to be mined from
tragedy, and featuring a large cast of camels, sheep and dogs that
frequently threaten to upstage their human co-stars, this joyous,
one-of-a-kind movie is a must for anyone who doubts that the cinema
has surprises still left in store." - Scott Foundas, LA
Weekly
"If there's anyone more stubborn than Dvortsevoy's characters, it's
the filmmaker himself - camping out on the steppe, waiting months
for the precise weather conditions to shoot a particular scene. In
every respect, this unclassifiable movie is an amazing
accomplishment." - J. Hoberman, Village Voice
In Kazakh and Russian, with English subtitles
