KYRGYZSTAN - FIELD REPORTS

Several years ago I travelled across Krygyzstan to create a documentary about semi-nomadic people and their lives with horses. The final film “Wings of Kyrgyzstan”, broadcast as a 54 minute documentary on Arte, focussed on the lives of two very different families and their relationships with horses. The horse is deeply felt by most Kyrgyz to be “the wings of a human”. Vital to travel, shepherding, legend, foodways, sport and ritual, horses are central to life here.

(Arte France/Germany, Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Equus Film Festival, DocFest, Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Belgrade International Festival of Ethnological Film, Torelló Mountain Film Festival, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, BergFilm Tegernsee, DocUtah)

Kyrgyzstan - Field Reports is an accompanying collection of photographs and films created during field work, an anthology of stories and vignettes of many of the families I spent time with. This initiative serves as a repository of memory and narrative, a visual contemplation of semi-nomadic life-ways.    

SHYLOBEK BOOTAEV

Shylobek and his family generously hosted me and my field producer for a time at his home in At Bashy. As our guide, he took us to the caravanserei at Tash Rabat and along valleys deep in the Naryn region to meet many people in who he knew through decades of work as a shepherd and then as a vet. He toured us through the market and to spend time in conversation with people who opened their yurts to us, sharing their own stories and reminiscences. I am indebted to him and his family, and share this selection of vignettes we filmed with his always smiling help.

KYZ KUUMAI

Celebrating the great role that the horse plays in Kyrgyz life, this game astride is also an opportunity for girls to participate in a traditional horse sport, a realm most usually dominated by men. On the shores of Son-Kul lake, two young women practice for Kyz Kuumai, both great riders who attempt to outrun and out gallop their male pursuers. 

CARAVAN SONGS

Tash Rabat is a 15th Century caravanserei built as a shelter and coaching inn for merchants and their animals traveling the silk road.  Nearby a family has carved out a living running a small yurt camp for tourists.  

JYRGYLBEK AND KENJENKAN

Shylobek Bootaev introduced us to Jyrgylbek and Kenjenkan at their summer camp in the river valley East of At Bashy. They had suffered high winds the night before and were cleaning up their camp. They chased off a band of maurading yak while we were there and later in the year we were able to reconnect with them back at their winter home. Jyrgylbek and Kenjenkan tell the story of her bride kidnap and his sad tale of losing a favorite horse.

SUIUNALY AND NASINA

Travel for visitors in Kyrgyzstan depends heavily on the knowledge and guidance of local drivers. Narimbek saw us up the winding mountain passes to Son Kol lake and deep into the valleys of the Naryn region. He introduced us to his family who lived between Togolok Moldo and Son Kol. Suiunaly and Nasina shared stories of their youthful dreams and of how much of the aesthetic and practical living in a boz ui (yurt) is dependent on the horse.

THE SADDLE MAKER

Mirbek inherited the tools and talent of his father and grandfather, renowned in the region for their craftsmanship and talents as saddle makers.  Hoping to live up to their reputation, Mirbek carves a saddle,  reflecting upon the style and art of his craft, all the while conversing with his curious son. 

URMAT & AYKER

Urmat and Ayker awake at dawn to release hundreds of sheep to graze on the lush grass carpeting the landscape. Their fire is built from animal dung, and the entirety of their possessions hang on a peg, by the door. Urmat's most prized possession is his stallion, a horse he is training to compete.  

OLOVO

Amongst other foods, Kyrgyz people prepare organ meats, intestines, and other animal by-products. Some of these include karin may oromo (old style oromo), made with the stomach of a sheep stuffed with meat, rice, vegetables, fat and grains, ülbürchök (a meat stuffed 'pouch' of sheep's heart), boor kuurdak (fried liver), and olovo (sheep lungs cooked in milk and butter).