The controversial Kazakh drama "Losing Innocence in Alma-Ata," directed by Zhanna Isabayeva and sparking debate in 2012, has been included in the Cinematic City film program at the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture. Running from July 18 to September 12, the program explores the connection between cinema and urban space, reports the website infohub.kz.
According to organizers, the program examines the multifaceted relationship between cinema and the city. Almaty residents will have the opportunity to see documentary and feature films, classics and contemporary festival works. The program includes nine feature films, among them the cult classic "La Haine" starring Vincent Cassel, the documentary classic "Koyaanisqatsi" by Godfrey Reggio, Dziga Vertov's "Man with a Movie Camera," and "Silence" by Iranian master Mohsen Makhmalbaf, shot in Dushanbe.
Cinematic City is curated by Ulyana Toporovskaya, founder and program director of the Qara Film Festival, an international documentary festival launched in 2020. "I noticed that in many films dear to me, I remember not only the characters but also the city itself: its rhythm, light, noise, sense of space — and how all that influences the drama and aesthetics of the film. That's how the idea for the Cinematic City program came about. Here, the city is not a backdrop but a participant in the story as significant as its characters," Toporovskaya emphasizes.
Thus, each film becomes a unique way to observe how the city exists on screen and how cinema seeks forms to depict it: the city as a system, as sensory experience, as space of solitude and connection, as social reality, as experiment. According to the organizers, the program poses a simple, open question: how do ways of seeing the city on screen change — and what do these changes say about modern life?
The full screening schedule includes: July 18 at 6:00 PM — "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) by Godfrey Reggio; July 19 at 3:00 PM — "Happy End" (2024) by Neo Sora; July 19 at 6:00 PM — short film program "London in Focus"; July 25 at 6:00 PM — "Where Are We Going?" (2021) by Ruslan Fedotov; July 26 at 6:00 PM — "Concrete History" (2026) by John Wilson; August 1 at 6:00 PM — "Silence" (1998) by Mohsen Makhmalbaf; August 2 at 6:00 PM — "La Haine" (1995) by Mathieu Kassovitz; September 5 at 6:00 PM — "What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?" (2021) by Alexandre Koberidze; September 6 at 6:00 PM — "Losing Innocence in Alma-Ata" (2011) by Zhanna Isabayeva; September 12 at 6:00 PM — "Man with a Movie Camera" (1929) by Dziga Vertov.
Ticket price is 2,500 tenge. Admission is free for people with Group I and II disabilities, as well as veterans of the Great Patriotic War. More information about the film program and tickets is available on the Tselinny website.