Elizaveta Boyarskaya made a nostalgic trip to the childhood city of her mother Larisa Luppian

The international festival in Tashkent, if we count from Soviet times, is already 65 years old. This was once a large and prestigious film festival. When it was held for the first time, it was visited by the American singer and actor Paul Robeson. Old-timers, such as film director Ali Khamraev, nostalgically remember how he sang an Uzbek song back then. The festival was not held for some time, but there was constant talk about its revival. The author of these lines had the opportunity 11 years ago to participate in a meeting on this matter in Bukhara and even make his own proposals. Now the festival is numbered 15 – the countdown is from the moment it was held in an independent and independent state. At the same time, he is the third after a prolonged pause in work. The numbers can get confusing. As the organizers say, it is difficult to raise a festival that was once booming. And to make this happen, they even invited Kevin Spacey. In the meantime, French actor Frederic Diefenthal, familiar to viewers from Taxi, was present at the opening. And the Anatomy of a Fall festival was opened by Justine Trieu, who received the Palme d’Or in Cannes this year.

Before the evening official opening, the latest Uzbek cinema was presented at Uzbekfilm. Until recently, a great many low-budget films made on the knee were filmed here. They were a great success with the local public and mainly told stories about unhappy love, where the lovers were from different social classes. As in Indian cinema, they overcame obstacles to win the right to happiness.

Now we are presented with ambitious historical projects. One of them is “Bahadir Yalangtush” – about the Uzbek politician and military leader, the governor of the Bukhara khans in Samarkand, under whom the pearls of Registan and magnificent madrassas were built. The film is still being filmed, and a fire show was staged for guests in one of the studio pavilions. Fires were lit. It seemed as if the sand was burning under our feet. The horses raced by. Those present felt like participants in historical events. After that, a shroud hung in the studio corridors for a long time and there was a burning smell. Among the guests of the presentation were Larisa Luppian and Elizaveta Boyarskaya.

Initially, Mikhail Boyarsky was also included in the guest list, but he could not come, as his wife explained, due to circumstances beyond their control. Suddenly, a stranger in a wide-brimmed hat appeared in the summer kindergarten before the opening ceremony, and some of the guests from post-Soviet countries rushed to him with the words: “It’s so good that you recovered and were able to come.” He couldn’t understand what was happening. It never occurred to him that he was mistaken for Boyarsky.

The first two days were busy for Larisa Luppian and Elizaveta Boyarskaya. From the studio pavilion they went to the opening of the Days of Russian Cinema, the program of which consists of a unique set of films: “Mira” by Dmitry Kiselev, “Young Man” by Alexander Fomin, “Bullfinch” by Boris Khlebnikov, “Chuk and Gek. Big Adventure”, presented in Tashkent by director Alexander Kott. Russian films are shown in the cinema hall of an entertainment town reminiscent of Disneyland.

Larisa Luppian was born in Tashkent and survived the earthquake here. The trip to the festival is special for her. I ask what Tashkent was like in her childhood, whether the house where she grew up is still there.

– The city is changing, sometimes it’s hard to find something. I left Tashkent in 1970 for Leningrad to enter the theater institute. I arrived and have been living in those ports. My entire career is connected with Leningrad, and now St. Petersburg. There I became a people’s artist, I direct the Theater named after. Lensovet, which will turn 90 years old in November. I adore Tashkent for my happy childhood. My dad’s house, where I lived, has been preserved. It is located in the private sector on Dostoevsky Street. My stepbrother lives there. Lisa and I will definitely go there. We will visit the graves of my father and grandmother. She is Estonian, was a governess, came to Uzbekistan, and then Turkestan, with the general’s family. Even before I was born, I ran a small kindergarten, where I raised children in German. When I was a little girl, I only knew German. I remember German Christmas trees and songs in German. I often remember my grandmother. It was she who shaped my character. Tomorrow I’ll go look for my school number 47. I don’t know what its number is now. After my parents separated, my mother and I moved, and I went to school 182. I’ll go look for her.

– Do you come here often?

– The last time was 12 years ago on a sad occasion, when my dad died.

We are treated to samsa, very tiny pies with pumpkin and meat. Larisa Luppian says that she has never seen such a small samosa, before it was different.

Elizaveta Boyarskaya joins the conversation: “It’s a pity that we won’t be able to go to Samarkand with the festival. I have a play “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” at the Youth Theater in Moscow. Mom has things to do too. A short trip and I didn’t think it would be so interesting. I was in Tashkent only once, when I was five years old.”

In the lobby of Uzbekfilm, Larisa Luppian saw a large black and white photograph on the wall, where she was very small during the filming of the film “You are not an orphan,” released in 1962. It was later directed by the classic of Uzbek cinema, People’s Artist of the USSR Shukhrat Abbasov, known for the 1967 film “Tashkent – the City of Grain.” “You are not an orphan” is based on the novel “His Majesty the Man” by Uzbek writer Rakhmat Fayzi about people who accepted 14 children of different nationalities into their family during the Great Patriotic War. One such child was played by Larisa Luppian and remains in the history of Uzbek cinema. At the presentation of Uzbekfilm, they showed a fragment where her young heroine runs and shouts: “Mom, mom, mommy!”

– In the 60s, when I was in first grade, the film crew of the film “You Are Not an Orphan” came to our class. – the actress recalls. – They selected children to participate in the film, and they took me. I played a girl with a dramatic fate and am happy that today I saw an old photograph that took me back to my distant childhood years. We started filming in a completely old film studio. When I was in second grade, our whole class went to watch a movie. With the fee for the film “You are not an orphan” we bought a piano and went to Issyk-Kul. I am mainly a theater actress, I rarely act. It’s better to talk to Lisa about cinema. Fate did not spoil me with work. I couldn’t get into the cinema. There was no one to tell me how important this was for an actor.

Larisa Luppian said that Lisa could start her career at the age of five. An Italian director drew attention to her and promised her everything, but she did not agree to act. As a child, Lisa had no inclination towards acting. Everything came later.

At the opening ceremony of the festival, Elizaveta Boyarskaya presented a prize to one of the winners of the national competition (it is being held for the first time). The jury, consisting exclusively of female filmmakers from different countries (and this is a revolutionary decision for Uzbekistan), reviewed Uzbek films before the start of the festival. Thus, at the opening ceremony the results were summed up and awards were distributed, which in itself is unusual. How unusual it was that when the prizes were awarded, people in the hall cried. It would seem a joyful event, but the names of the laureates are associated with tragic circumstances.

Elizaveta Boyarskaya gave the prize to the son of the late actor Hashim Arslanov, who played the ship commander, real-life pilot Zarif Saidazimov in the film “101st Flight” by Akrom Shakhnazarov (the film is based on his autobiography. He makes his last flight before retiring. For the famous Uzbek actor This is also his last film role.He died at 63.

The beautiful Rano Shodieva, whom it was impossible not to pay attention to on the star walk, also cried while receiving the award for best actress in the film “A Woman’s Fate,” based on real events. Early played a woman who was returned to Uzbekistan from a Syrian refugee camp. It turned out that last year, contrary to sad forecasts, the actress defeated a serious cancer disease, underwent a complex operation, and underwent rehabilitation in one of the clinics in Turkey. That is why the award was presented to her by the Deputy Minister of Culture of Turkey.

The acting career of Rano Chodieva is somewhat reminiscent of the path of Larisa Luppian. It all started in childhood. She was walking early after school with her friends when she was noticed by film director Kamara Kamalova (she is the oldest graduate of VGIK, awarded on the opening day of the festival for the best national film “What Will They Call You”). So the girl made her debut at the age of 13 in the film “Everything Around was Covered with Snow,” and after graduating from school she entered the Tashkent Institute of Arts. Rano not only acts in films, but also works as a clothing designer and runs a center for children and youth with disabilities. Surely the jury members did not know any of this when distributing the awards, but life circumstances gave their choice a special intonation.