Not to be Missed: You Are Not An Orphan (Uzbekistan, 1963)

Tuesday, March 24, 4 - 6 pm
Central Asia Program Film Screening
You Are Not An Orphan (Uzbekistan, 1963)
Directed by Shukhrat Abbasov
The film is the story of an Uzbek family who gave shelter to 14 children evacuated to Uzbekistan during World War II while the family's own son was drafted to the front. Children of different nationalities and ages learn to live together in one house - a veritable metaphor for the multi-national country itself. The Makamov family shelters a Russian, an Uzbek, a Jew and Lithuanian a Tatar, a Kazakh, etc. Every child gets into the family by accident but eventually stays on by the decision and the good will of the foster parents who realize that their house is a safe haven for the kids during the complicated times, certainly preferable to the orphanage. The film combines staple patriotic and internationalist ideas of the time with the affirmation of the national mentality of the Uzbek people. The film's director, Shukhrat Abbasov, received the 'Hamza,' a State award of Uzbek SSR. The film was also awarded best screenplay prize at the first All-Union film festival in Leningrad, 1964.
Registration: http://webapp.mcis.utoronto.ca/EventDetails.aspx?eventid=6938
Room 108, North Building, Munk Centre for International Studies (1 Devonshire Place)
Sponsored by the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.