The period from 2000 to 2011 was the heyday of Yakutia’s cinema, the years of its transition from quantity to quality, and the beginning of its roiling history. The author of this article calls these years the “kinoboom” period of Yakutia’s cinema.
The start of this period can be pinpointed in 2003 with the release of the film Khara Maaska (Black Mask; Russian title: Chernaia maska, dir. N. Arzhakov), produced by the regional film company Sakhafil’m. Then, in 2004 and 2005 respectively, the films Min ejigiin taptyybyn (My Love; Russian title: Liubov’ moia, dir. S. Potapov) and Kuot (Run; Russian title: Begi, dir. K. Barashkov) were officially released. The success of these films at the local box offices revealed viewers’ keen interest in movies in their native language, centered on relatable plots, and filmed on familiar locations, featuring familiar faces of Yakutia’s actors. Such audience interest spurred directors to create and shoot content for local distribution. We now have our own favorite actors and actresses, and they can be both professional and non-professional. And, up through the present day, non-professional actors can often become very popular thanks to Yakutia’s cinema. This was also the era of new independent creative associations and film studios. There was even a joke among local directors that, “All you need is three Sakha to make up a film company.”
These years also coincided with the broader technological transition to digital cinema, which made it possible to reduce the costs of film production. Many young and active figures broke into the film industry, who very often had no special education but created films with enthusiasm. As a result, many local film productions began to be released. Not all films were of a high technical and artistic merit, but, gradually, quantity began to turn into quality.
The rise in quality of film productions was achieved thanks to the demand of Yakutia’s viewers, who actively discussed the newest films at local forums and anticipated new debuts and premiers. In response, the directors studied reviews and the mood of viewers. Such a keen interest from the audience increased the box office success of local films, which subsequently led to the development of the entire film industry in the republic.
In general, the budgets of local films are quite modest, but, in the history of Yakutia’s cinema, there are two films with very large budgets. These are two large-scale historical films, By the Will of Genghis Khan (Taina Chingiz Khana, dir. A. Borisov, 2009) and Tygyn Darkhan (N. Arzhakov, 2021). Both these films show that filmmakers from Yakutia can work on major projects, including those involving foreign actors. We would also like to add that the period of the so-called “kinoboom” in Yakutia’s cinema made it possible to turn away from the feeling of cinema’s elitism and insularity. If at an earlier time, in the 1990s, there was a feeling that only professionals with specialized educations could enter the film industry, which was connected with the realities of Soviet cinema, then, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, there was a departure from this professionalism in favor of freedom of creativity and self-expression, despite the lack of people’s experience and professional degrees in filmmaking. This state of affairs may have disheartened the older generation of Sakha filmmakers, but the advent of digital camera, widely available high-speed internet, social media, a more general sense of cultural freedom, and the accessibility of knowledge and information have reshaped the cultural and social landscape. A whole galaxy of filmmakers have appeared, most often young people freed from any kind of censorship and were absolutely confident in their authentic voices. We consider that this new historical backdrop contributed in part to the development of Yakutia’s cinema. Creative associations shot films at their own expense and operated completely independently. In this regard, we can recall the words of the famous critic Anton Dolin (2017):
In the broadest sense of the word, every cinematographer in the Sakha Republic is an amateur, bound to work with amateur actors, and other self-taught non-professionals. But that’s exactly the reason why cinema in Yakutia is so genuinely democratic: denying the caste-based approach, it runs down the hierarchy, and every filmgoer knows that if they want to, they can make a film of their own. And this is exactly that truly creative spirit, which is so rare today even in the most successful and rich cinematic empires.
The “kinoboom” (2000-2011) witnessed the release of the largest number of films in Yakutia’s history. On average, seven to ten films were released each year during this window. The most prolific year was 2011, when fifteen Sakha language films were released. Here we must pay tribute to several films, which, starting in 2004, saw the release of My Love (dir. Sergei Potapov), which actively highlighted other local films, actors, and directors of Yakutia, channeling the audience’s interest in a genuinely national cinema. Many of these films also enjoyed commercial success. There were no federal cinema networks in Yakutia, and this situation made it possible for local distributors to decide for themselves what and how much to show, based on viewers’ taste.
During the kinoboom, Yakutia’s population began to actively use the Internet and, therefore, would discuss what they saw on forums and various digital platforms. There was a kind of interactive relation between the creators and consumers of film content. This, in turn, made it possible for the authors to navigate the preferences of the audience and decide what, about whom, and in what genre to make films so that they would be commercially successful at the local box offices.
Among the films released between 2004 and 2011, they were mostly mainstream films in the genre films of comedy, horror, mystery, and drama. Not all films had a high creative quality and were distinguished by their artistry, but there were a few interesting auteur projects among them.
The kinoboom period is additionally known for the emergence of the vibrant creative association DetSAT—the children of the Sakha Academic Theater (Deti Sakha Akademicheskogo Teatra), founded by Dmitrii Shadrin, Alexei Egorov, Mikhail Borisov, Roman Dorofeev, Stepan Poriadin, Igor Govorov), all of whom, as actors of the Sakha Theater, filmed various comedies in their free time. The creative association was founded by the cult film character Keskil (played by the actor Mikhail Borisov), whose ridiculous adventures onscreen became very popular with a range of viewers, from children to the elderly. In total, the association released about four films centering on Keskil, as well as other equally successful comedies, such as Jubilee (Iubilei, 2011), Free Knights (Köngül Booturdar, 2011), Erchim and Kim (Erchim uonna Kim, 2013), and #love (#taptal, 2014), Flowers (Sibekki, 2015), Hectare: The Hunting Area (Gektar: Bajanajdaakh sir, 2016),etc.
Also during this period, a successful sequel from young auteur (dir. Vasilii Bulatov), Heroes: Battle for the Cup (Geroi: Bitva za kukok, 2011) and Heroes 2: Scorpion Tournament (Geroi 2: Turnir skorpiona, 2012), which were based on computer games and VHS tapes, were released.
Among the variety of these films, one can be singled out for its merit, the auteur tragicomedy, Sergei Potapov’s Tyyn (Breathe; Russian title: Dyshi, 2006). Sergei Potapov, a student of Mark Zakharov, is known for his unconventional and bold theatrical works, eliciting contradictory, ambiguous responses from the audience. He is also known as a director of feature films, such as My Love (2004), Where the Wind will Be (Tyal baaryn tukhary; Russian title: Pokuda budet veter, 2010) and The God Johogoi (D’öhögöj Ajyy, Russian title: Bog Josogoi, 2015).
The action of Tyyn unfolds over one day in the life of the main character, the lost N’urgun. He is already over forty, but he seems to be stuck in his teens. He left his job and has no money, yet he owes money to his “brothers,” and he is immersed in the heap of everyday problems. At home, he has three young sons and a wife in the latter months of pregnancy. And then we learn that he has a mistress who is demanding money for an abortion. In a beat-up car, N’urgun travels around Yakutsk with his son, in the vain hope of getting ahold of money. Infantile and simple-minded, but, in general, he is a kind fellow, and he gets himself into a few ridiculous situations. Either his last valuable—a massive pectoral cross—will be pocketed by his mistress or he himself will need to stage a raid on a grocery store, or he will be beaten up by the scumbag Oota, to whom he owed money… The protagonist is a representative figure of the lost generation, originally from the “wild 1990s.” How many people like N’urgun still live by wandering aimlessly through the streets for hours on end, drinking beer on porches, hanging out by slot machines, fighting in taverns, and imagining how cool and independent they are? The film shows the underbelly of the bright streets: the backyards, a miserable reality, where creatures lost their way in everyday life, and live among the sewer swamps: the homeless sitting on corners for money, prostitutes, drunken outcasts and poets, bandits, losers, bros, or just the crazies.
In parallel with N’urgun’s story, the story of another hero develops. He is a city bum, who has lost his mind after the deaths of his wife and newborn daughter. On the street, he distributes “chupa-chups” (lollipops) to all the kids he meets. The madman, approaching the moment of his own death, picks on the “cool” kids and dies in a hospital bed. The doctors are powerless to restore life to the doomed man, that is, to give him back his dying breath.
The breath motif is sustained throughout the film. The very name of the picture “Tyyn” in Sakha language means “Breathe!”, and N’urgun shouts to his wife during her labor: “Tyyn!” (Breathe!). He also pleads the same with his newborn daughter, who, it seems, is a stillborn. Yet the film ends with a baby’s cry: the child is breathing. Life goes on. And fatherly love, which brought the daughter back to life, will probably make N’urgun settle down, and his family situation will work itself out…
Translated from Russian by Raymond De Luca
Works Cited
Dolin, Anton, 2017. “Yakut Miracle,” in Sakha Cinema. The World of Mysterious Nature and Myth. Eds. Sergei Anashkin, Sardana Savvina, and Jin Park. Busan: BIFF, pp. 17-21.
Sardana Savvina © 2022