Sergey Bezrukov, Luc Besson and Armand Assante conquer Uzbekistan

On the evening of September 14, the opening ceremony of the XIV Tashkent International Film Festival “Pearl of the Silk Road” was held in Uzbekistan. Hundreds of guests from dozens of countries of the world arrived at the festival, but the largest delegation was the Russian one – in total, about 30 representatives of the Russian film and television industry walked along the red carpet to the Tashkent House of Cinematographers, where the ceremony took place.

A good half of the guests arrived from Russia to Uzbekistan two days before the opening ceremony of the film festival to participate in the opening days of cinema of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries, timed to coincide with the summit in Samarkand, as well as attend a class concert dedicated to freshmen of the Tashkent branch of VGIK, which is the second year. These events were also attended by VGIK rector Vladimir Malyshev and People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Bezrukov, who were entrusted with handing out student cards to freshmen.

Standing on stage, Bezrukov expressed his readiness to star in a film produced in Uzbekistan, of course, if he liked the script, and the Russian actor also admitted that he would open his workshop at the local VGIK, which aroused genuine emotions among Uzbeks. “I will be glad to hear “Khush kelebsiz” (Welcome to Uzbek) from you,” the artist said.

In general, it was he who became the headliner of the first days of the festival. He was carefully protected from too annoying fans, and the fans of Sasha Bely, it is this image that most Uzbeks know and love, at a meeting of the actor at the Cinematography Agency staged a whole show with photographs of Bezrukov.

On the day of the opening ceremony of the film festival, heavy artillery began to arrive in Tashkent: Luc Besson and Armand Assante, who was entrusted with hosting the event.

Besson immediately set to work. He held a master class for students of the Tashkent branch of VGIK and answered questions from fans and journalists.

However, the Uzbek public was not expecting these monsters of world cinema. And not even Bezrukov with Farhad Makhmudov or Sergei Puskepalis with Alexander Samoylenko, who also came to Tashkent. She was waiting for the Turkish actor Burak Ozchivit, known for his roles in the TV series “The Magnificent Century” and “Korolek – a singing bird.” It was this artist who won the hearts of millions of Uzbeks, and, for the most part, it was for his sake that Uzbeks lined up in hundreds along the red carpet leading to the Cinematographer’s House on the evening of the opening ceremony of the festival.

As is customary at such events, the light from the spotlights and the stars’ outfits blinded the eyes. Famous actors, directors, producers and other cinematographers walked along the red carpet in an endless stream. The hosts of the festival read out the names, the audience reacted, but tension was felt along the red carpet and on the summer stage of the House of Cinematographers, where guests flocked and where they were met by selected journalists and bloggers. Even the appearance of Bezrukov and Besson did not defuse the situation. Everyone was waiting for HIM – Burak Ozchivit.

The Turkish delegation was one of the last. About a dozen people of producers, directors and officials received their portion of applause, but the absence of Özcivit among them caused bewilderment. The audience was reassured by the fact that Turkish actors continued to arrive outside the delegation, mainly those who starred in co-production Turkish-Uzbek films. Once the announcer made a mistake and said the name of Burak Ozchivit, the audience roared, but the next stars of local cinema, hesitating, took to the red carpet. The fans sighed in disappointment. There were rumors in the crowd that Özcivit would not come, and if he did, he would go through the back door. The people began to get sad. But as usual there was a happy ending. The actor nevertheless appeared on the red carpet and went towards the summer garden, but the presenter, having aroused the envy of millions of fans, intercepted Ozchivit and spun it “for a couple of words”, taking a picture with a popular artist along the way.

At this time, in the summer garden, where, in theory, only the chosen ones were supposed to get, these chosen ones built a living wall, hoping to touch the beautiful. The guards barely managed to rebuild the wall into a corridor and allow Ozchivit to bypass the summer garden and go directly to the Cinematographer’s House itself, where the ceremony was to take place.

Resigned to the inevitable, fans of Turkish cinema calmed down a little and began to tune in directly to the opening ceremony.

The process of awarding the laureates of the award “For Contribution to the Development of World Cinema” was interesting. Assante invited a movie star to the stage, who was supposed to present the award, but instead of announcing the name, a video cut with the works of the laureate began on the screen to the accompaniment of songs performed live, inviting guests to guess who would get the statuette. The winners of the award were Krzysztof Zanussi, Indian actors Umesh Mehra and Zeenat Aman, Armand Assante, Takeshi Kitano.

The most touching moment of the ceremony, as it seemed, was the awarding of the Uzbek director Elyor Ishmukhamedov. Many in the hall shed tears when on a huge screen, accompanied by a live performance by young artists of the song of the group “Yalla” “Boychechak” (“Snowdrop”), frames from the trilogy films “Tenderness” / “Lovers” / “What are our years!” appeared. Even more emotions were added by the fact that Ishmukhamedov could not come for the award due to illness.

Less touching, but no less memorable moment of the ceremony was the request of Luc Besson to congratulate his son on his birthday, the celebration of which the director did not attend due to participation in the film festival. The audience reacted positively, and a choir of a thousand voices sang the song Happy Birthday. Besson had tears in his eyes…

Alexander TROITSKY, Tashkent