Actress Mariam Hassan on the red carpet for the screening of the Hindi film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ at Souq Waqif yesterday.
BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: Kazakhstan is making its first foray at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) with its biggest movie of the decade entitled ‘Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe’, which earned $1m on its opening weekend in Kazakhstan.
With a budget of $10m, the movie, which is being compared to ‘300’ and ‘Robinhood’, is an historical epic set in the 18th century Kazakhstan tells of a group of teenage rebels fighting against the ferocious Mongols.
“It is a big honour for us to be here and represent our country. We hope that the audience will learn a bit about Kazakhstan as a country and its history,” said Akan Satayev, director of the film who was also behind Kazakh top-grossers such as Racketeer.
The director has been appreciative of the rave reviews and warm reception from audiences both from his home country and overseas like when it was shown at the recent Cannes Festival.
“The first time it was shown internationally was at the Cannes Festival. I wasn’t able to come to the festival but based on the feedback I got from my colleagues, the reception was fantastic. It’s a pleasure to hear that people love the movie and regard it as a high quality movie,” he said.
Around 22,000 hopefuls auditioned for the lead role of Sartai, while a role was offered to Kevin Costner, though the producers deviated from the original plan considering the historical aspect of the film.
“He (Costner) was interested to work with us but while we were talking with the producers of the film if it would make sense at the historical point of view, I don’t know if it was good or bad, but we decided it would not be relevant.”
Overall the movie took two years, with 90 days spent for the actual shooting of the film in the Tian Shan mountains.
“The biggest challenge was the weather because 90 percent of the movie was shot outdoors, that’s why we were always dependent on weather and the location was mainly in mountainous areas. It was a challenge,” he said.
It is rare for an historical film to achieve success amid the rise of highly commercialised movies shown in theatres every day and asked what was the formula for the success of Myn Bala, Satayev said: “I can’t really tell what if there was a formula for the success of the movie but the most important thing was we put our whole heart and sincerity into the movie because we believed in it. Our international and local team were the best in what they do and that’s one of the reasons we got successful.”
Satayev is also keeping his fingers crossed as the state-funded film is Kazakhstan’s official entry to the Academy Awards’ Foreign Language Film category. Toronto’s 108 Media already got the rights to distribute it worldwide.
Another historical movie is in development stage, according to Satayev, adding it has even a bigger budget than Myn Bala.
“We are in the process of developing the movie and negotiating with the government. The film would be set in the 20th century and depict Kazakhstan during World War II. Nothing is certain yet but it would be a state project,” he said. The Peninsula
