Cumulus Clouds, Rabbit Running & Rumi Speaks

I wish I could have written everyday in this blog, as I had originally intended. But running from one end of town to the next, from meeting to meeting and trying to get that perfect shot before it disappeared mixed with a lack of internet and lack of sleep resulted in blog neglect.

It's rather disappointing because we've experienced so much. So forgive me for not writing in chronological order, but rather in my memories order-- however they decide to appear.

Three days ago, Timur, Anne and I set-off with Sergei, our driver on a 14-hour car ride to Turkestan. We stopped once for 3 hours to see the famous petroglyphs, a huge array of stone carvings made by prehistoric men on small mountains. The car ride was difficult--sitting our our butt for so long, but I have to admit I can neer get sick o watching those huge cumulus clouds drifting through the sky. We don't have those in L.A., it doesn't have enough trees and green to produce them.

The journey was worth it, and appropriately so because we arrived late that evening in 2nd Mecca, the holy capital of Kazakhstan, TURKESTAN.
We stayed at the best hotel, of the 3 in the town, which says very little. Just to give an example, for breakfast the next morning only 3 of 12 items on the menu were available. The waitress asked Sergei if he wanted milk for his coffee, he said yes and she said, "sorry we are out of milk." Then there's the plumbing and toilet problem, but that's an issue I've learned to accept in the outskirts of Almaty.

After breakfast we headed towards the "Kozha Akhmed Yasaui Mausoleum". The mausoleum for the Sufi teacher and Turkic mystical poet was built by Timur the Lame, (who my Timur is named after,) back in the 1390s. When the workmen learned of Timur's death, they stopped working -- thus the front of the mausoleum has no tilework and still has wooden scaffolding in the masonry.
Inside we learned so much about the importance of Kozha Akhmed Yasaui. He was the teacher o many important figures like the poet Rumi, Mohammed and the leader of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. Also the 1st Turkish bathouse came from there and is located right next to the Mausoleum. We got a VIP tour and experience because our wonderful guide flirted with one of the directors and got Anne and Timur a meeting with all of the board, where they told them about our project and they granted us access to shoot inside, (which is unheard of!)

One of the board members even became our guide, and would pull back the restrainers around the scupltures and antiques so we could go in and get a better close-up. He then invited us to a private Dkihr worship for the Sufis that evening.

Sufism is the mystic side of the muslim religion. It is a peaceful and beautiful side, all based on singing. The entire Dkihr was composed of chanting and sining with head movements. The music was enchanting and so powerful. They didn't try to covert us, they simply wanted to teach us about their religion. It was incrdibly inspiring.

Okay, ufortunately I can't write anymore. I am now running off to the natonal library in search of photographs and newspapers from the 1920s and 30s. (when the soviets first took over kazakhstan and the nomad period ended.)

Chimbulak Mountains

Today began with a delicious hot breakfast of fresh cream of wheat. It tastes completely different than the kind back home, probably because the wheat is so fresh and the milk is unpasteurized. Right after that Timur, his father and I drove through Almaty up to the snow-peaked Chimbulak mountains.

This is one of Almaty's treasures; these grand, snow-peaked picturesque mountains that surround the city like one of nature's fortress'.

We drove all the way up and reached a well-known ski resort, for it's ski lift, and purchased tickets for the ride. I knew the view would be worth it, but once we were sitting in it my nerves kicked in and it began to feel like a mild roller coaster. Thankfully, Timur's father used his psychiatry on me and calmed me down. I shot quite a bit of footage and think some of it might be good.

This was really my first sight-seeing trip of Almaty because for the past 2 days we've been indoors with the National Folk Orchestra conducting individual workshops and meeting each player. There are so many interesting instruments that are just not known in the West. There's even a harp-like instrument that was restored after a few hundred years and now has its first player who is in the orchestra as well.

The workshops have gone really well and Monday we're going o have our first big rehearsal with the entire orchestra and the conductor. I've been working on questions to interview a lot of the key players. Monday will be busy because right after the rehearsal is my screening.

Day #1 Kazakhstan

After 3 hours of trying to rest we had to attend our 1st meeting. It was at KIMEP, a well-known university here in Almaty, for a showcase of my films. They are going to screen over 1 hour of my films in their Great Hall this Monday, June 1st at 6:30pm.
There were several faculty and the Director of Student Affairs, etc waiting to greet us and show us their different screening halls.

Timur is going to present the event and host the Q&A with me. The Great Hall sits over 600 people, so the space is huge and still somewhat old with decor so I think it's beautiful. They use it for graduation, which explain the image of it I posted.

The school is sending out a lot of publicity for it as well as our project's producer, Yelena,

(who I met for the first time at the meeting yesterday.) She is a perfect producer and is doing so much work. Right after the meeting she had an appointment scheduled with the travel agency for our trip into the outskirts of the city planned for next week. This travel agency specializes in the most picturesque locations in the country and we will have our own driver so I can shoot as much and long as is needed. 

Anne LeBaron arrived a bit later, but we haven't seen her yet because both Timur an I couldn't stay awake for much longer. We both fell asleep until now. 

So far this experience has been an experience. Almaty is unlike any other place I've ever been too. You can definitely feel both the Soviet and Asian influence. The people here have been very kind and from what I can gather this society functions a lot on trust. 

You see all kinds of people, from students to grandma's on the side of the road hitchhiking everywhere. This is common practice, we even did it a few times yesterday and 1 time 2 young students picked us up. You agree on a price at first and then get into the car. 

Day #1 Traveling to Kazakhstan

I got a taste of what to expect, as far as the way things are run, while at the LAX airport trying to get my ticket from Russian airlines Aeroflot. Technically, any traveller can fly into Moscow and transfer to a different plane as long as they don't leave the airport. Well at the check-in desk they decided that I needed to have a transit visa, so the only way they would let me through is if the luggage was sent under Timur's name, but that would cost $335 because of the big favor. (They tried to justify it based on weight, but I couldn't follow any logic in it.) Well, this caused a huge argument with the manager and several employees. From what I gathered, none of this would have happened if I continued flying on their airline all the way to Kazakhstan or had gotten my ticket from a travel agent. Timur had no problems, since Kazakhstan (former USSR) gives his free access to Russia without any Visa. We eventually found a loophole: paying for extra overweight baggage, which ended up costing $54. One of the attendants spoke Spanish so I spoke with her honestly about the absurd situation and she helped as much as she could.

The flight was awful, but survivable. It was 13 hours long, 2 bad airplane meals, breakfast was a candy bar and plane tv's were broken, so no form of entertainment. Someone went into the bathroom and smoked, so we all had to sit when we finally landed so that some medical guy could point a tobacco detector into each of our faces. I think I was the only American on his plane. The flight attendants all spoke to me in Russian and couldn't understand any English.

Then we arrive in Moscow. The airport had some bright orange Soviet architecture with it's bold san-serifs cyrillic fonts, completely Russian Constructivist feeling- I loved seeing this. We got off and after two safety inspections go looking for a monitor that tells us where the Air Astana terminal is. We walked around for 30 minutes and only found an attendant at a desk, who only spoke Russian. She told Timur to walk to the next hallway of doors and go into the room with the gold handle. Yes-- this obscure! So we find the door, which has no sign and go into it. The room looks like a waiting room with a reception desk, still no signs, and the ladies there check us in for Air Astana. They were very kind and attempted to say "Hello" in english to me. This was the first attempt of communication I'd gotten from anyone all day, so I immediately decided Kazakhstan ppl are nice and I like them. (Yes, my mid needed to create this determination for sanity sake.)

Air Astana was a wonderful flight, with delicious food and snacks, entertainment, hot towels, eye masks, kind stewardesses, kind ppl sitting next to us-- reminded me on flying LAN in South America.

We got off the plane and went to get our luggage. The security guy took me aside because of my bolex. He couldn't understand me so Timur came in to find out what he wanted. He assumed that the camera was an antique that I was going to sell to someone in Kzakhstan, Timur explained t him that it was mine and not for sale and would be traveling back to the U.S.A. with me. We finally got out of the airport, Wednesday 5 am after leaving from L.A. on Monday at 6pm.

Silent Steppe Promo

WATCH SILENT STEPPE CANTATA PROMO

Sanatorium

So it looks like a trip to China might have to be postponed because Timur got called into a production in Bali and he needs to leave to it immediately after our trip. He suggested that we stay in Kazakhstan and go to a Sanatorium. Yes, yes my first impression was also: a psychiatric ward??? And actually, it turns out that in the former Soviet Union the term has a slightly different meaning. It is mostly a combination of a resort/recreational facility and a medical facility intended to provide short-term complex rest and medical services, thus it is common to a spa resort.

Here is 1 I found:http://www.birkolik.kz/eng/
It's called “Birkolik” Sanatorium-preventorium and it's in South Kazakhstan. Their medical treatment includes mud therapy, balneotherapy (baths w/ different kinds of salts and minerals), hydrotherapy and remedial gymnastics, massage, etc.

Anticipation and Imagination

Timur has mentioned that it is tradition in his family, and in most Kazakh families, to throw a huge dinner in honor of the guest. I am excited to try all the new food, but probably more concerned that I don't insult anyone because I have a small stomach and it doesn't take much to get me too full. Thinking about this... and about my 1st day and arrival, I decided to research Kazakh traditional meals.

"Whether you are a chance traveler who has dropped in for a short rest or a specially invited guest, the host and his family will get busy preparing a konakasy, a special dinner in your honor. A young foal or lamb, or, if you have brought good news, even a white camel youngling will be killed to express the joy of the occasion.

Then they will spread a dastarkhan, a tablecloth as spacious as the steppe itself, on the floor in the centre of the yurt and lavishly cover it with choice dishes.
Mostly Kazakhstan food is made from meat and milk, above all, delicacies made from horse meat such as:
shuzhuk (sausage made of finely chopped meat);
kazy (sausage from ribs);
karta (sausage from the belly);
zhaya (boiled rump);
zhal (from urthers);

steaming kuirdak (from freshly killed sheep);
zhaubuirek (a whole carcass of a ram broiled on a spit);
syrbaz (a suckling lamb stewed in its own juice);
srneh (a whole deep-fried year-old lamb);
burmeh (a whole carcass of a ram stewed in its own skin in a hole dug in the earth with a fire made on top of it);
beshbarmak (a dressed carcass of a ram or a foal boiled in a cauldron).

In a word, you will be treated to every gourmet specialty that Kazakhstan cuisine has to offer. Of course, the dastarkhan is a serious test of the hostess' culinary talents. At the same time it is also an expression of the host's cordiality and generosity.

The Kazakhstan dastarkhan not only satisfies your thirst and hunger, it also lifts up your spirit. People learn much about one another at a dastarkhan. And the word "hospitality" means not only a heart meal accompanied by merrymaking and laughter: it means above all a cordial conversation with the guest."*

*Found here: http://aboutkazakhstan.com/Kazakhstan_National_Features.shtml

Straight out of a Sci-Fi movie

Khan Shatyry (Royal Marquee) is a giant transparent tent currently under construction in Astana, capital city of Kazakhstan. The architectural project was unveiled by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 9 December 2006.

Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be an urban-scale internal park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping centre, minigolf and indoor beach resort. It is being made from ETFE suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire. The transparent material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with air heating and cooling systems maintain an internal temperature between 15-30°C in the main space and 19-24°C in the retail units, while outside the temperature varies between -35 to +35°C across the year.
They are also building the ASTANA INDOOR CITY - BATYGAI.
Indoor City will be an indoor core of the development that will accommodate the retail, entertainment and the cultural facilities with references to town centers of different cities like Venice, Prague, Marrakech and Istanbul. The Urban Center will feature shopping centers, educational facilities, social facilities such as cinemas, theatres, library, museum and opera halls, health facilities, religious facilities, service facilities, including bank offices and post office, restaurants, cafes, bars, open spaces, gardens, rivers and car parking. There are going to be residential dwellings, hotel and office development and car parking associated with these uses in the surrounding areas. The residential development will include residence towers and villa type housing complete with parking, sports facilities and fitness and SPA. There is also going to be a five star hotel and
office towers in the surrounding areas will have direct access to the indoor urban center with weather controlled tunnels.

Structure Outline_Draft #1

Kazakhstan Fashion Week in Almaty

It took place the week of May 16, 2008...
so it's last year's fashion...
I'm curious to see what young people wear there...

What is 'Steppe'

In physical geography, a steppe, pronounced /stɛp/, is a grassland plain without treesprarie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude. The term is also used to denote the climateforest, but not dry enough to be a desert. Steppe are characterized by a continental and semi-arid climate. Peaks can be recorded in the summer of up to 40 °C (104 °F) and in winter -40 °C (-40 °F).

The Kazakh Steppe or Kirghiz Steppe, is the largest dry steppe region on earth, covering approximately 804,500 square kilometers. The Kazakh Steppe lies at the southern end of the Ural Mountains, the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia. Much of the steppe is considered to be either semi-desert or desert. Animals that can be found in the steppes of Kazakhstan include the Saiga Antelope, Siberuan Roe Deer, wolves, foxes and badgers.Another unique wonder of nature in Kazakhstan is the Singing Dunes, 182-km northeast of Almaty, on the right bank of the Ili River. In dry weather this sand dune emits a sound like an organ playing. The Singing Dunes make an unforgettable impression. The scarcely perceptible movement of sand sliding down the slope causes the humming and vibration. The friction caused by the movement of dry grains of sand, combined with the dry air, electrifies them, causing the vibration. Because of the surrounding favorable resonant conditions, powerful sound waves are produced which bouncing off the solid ground also cause the dune to vibrate. The sound can be heard from several kilometers away.
Lovely quote I found about the importance of the Kazakh Steppe: "The steppe is at times dusty and dry, at times snow- and ice-covered, then suddenly fragrant and full of the enchanting sounds and colors of spring. The steppe, which at a fleeting glance seems empty, constitutes a truly unique symbiosis of plant, animal and human life. The steppe demands contemplation, feeling and acclimation; then it opens up to you and gives you strength, and does not let you go."

Country Profile

Money: tenge (T); US$1 = 151T; €1 = 191T
Famous For: oil, steppe, launching rockets, empty space
Population: 15 million
Capital: Astana
Country Code: 7 (the same as Russia)
Languages: Kazakh, Russian
Size: The world’s ninth biggest country.
Location: Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, deep in the Eurasian continent.
It borders upon the following states: China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia
National holidays: Day of the Republic (October 25--my birthday) and Independence Day (December 16).
Kazakhstan is rich with commercial minerals: chromium, vanadium, bismuth, fluorine, iron, chromite, lead, zink, tungsten, molybdenum, phosphorite, copper, potassium and cadmium
Oil and Gas: They have discovered nearly 160 deposits of oil and gas, their Tenghiz field only ranks as one of the largest deposits of the world.
Kazakhstan is the second richest country in the world (after Russia) with regard to phosphorite reserves.
Kazakhstan holds one of the first places in the world as to the production of aluminium.

Claim to Fame = BORAT

Whenever I mention that I am travelling to Kazakhstan I get a blank stare, that is until I say, "you know the movie Borat... that country"... although Borat was actually shot in Romania and doesn't have an inkling of relevance to Kazakhstan. It's entertaining to imagine how upset all those Kazakhs got over Sacha Baron Cohen's film. At least the country's 1st international spotlight was in a positive light, as absurd and 3rd world as it may have been portrayed.

Roman Vassilenko, the press secretary for the Embassy of Kazakhstan wanted to clear up a few misconceptions about his country: Women are not kept in cages. The national sport is not shooting a dog and then having a party. You cannot earn a living being a Gypsy catcher. Wine is not made from fermented horse urine. It is not customary for a man to grab another man’s khrum. “Khrum” is not the word for testicles.

One funny note from Vassilenko's interview is when he was asked about a Kazakh sport that travel guides mention called kokpar, a precursor of polo, he hesitated, then explained, “That’s the one where a goat, a dead goat”—a headless dead goat—“is, um, being held as a sort of a prize. And then one rider has it, and he has to run away with it from others who seek to catch it and snatch it from him.” And then they have a party.

Aliens... the galactic nomads

The Republic of Kazakhstan is in the process of building the world’s first alien embassy according to several local media reports and online articles, posted within the past week.

It's going to be in Almaty, where Timur's family lives. I'm surprised he never mentioned all the alien sightings that Kazakhstan has, but that's probably because he doesn't believe in them. Facilities to be built within the alien complex will include a guesthouse, theatre and translation service. A purpose built UFO landing pad and checkpoint will be attached to the embassy.

Fuad Gasimov, the head of neighbouring Azerbaijan’s national Aerospace Agency has confirmed this news to be accurate and has gone on record stating the old USSR constantly monitored alien spaceships regularly entering the water but kept this a military secret. Gasimov himself was involved in this secret monitoring of UFOs when a department heat at the USSR’s science academy.

In addition to this, numerous UFO sightings occur in Kazakhstan where it is believed aliens take an interest in their massive natural resources. As recently as last year a UFO was reported as having crashed into a river in Kazakhstan.

The head of Kazakhstan’s space agency, Talgat Musabayev, is said to be heavily involved in the embassy project. Musabayev is an ex-cosmonaut who has spent many hours in space and is an ex-colleague of Gasimov. It is believed that he possesses a large amount of information on the aliens currently visiting earth.

Kazakhstan’s acceptance of the reality of alien visitors to earth has won it the admiration of many ufologists, especially those in the west, who wonder when their countries will follow this example.

I hope I'll see aliens! Or at least an unidentified flying object!

The Project Begins...

Now that my Peruvian fairytale, LUCIR Y SOMBRA is finally finished I must close its chapter and move on to the next: THE SILENT STEPPE CANTATA, a documentary.
This will be my first full-length, 'serious' documentary. I feel really excited about it, probably because it's going to be many firsts, for both my camera and I. But only one of us will retain them and be able to accurately share them over and over again.
That's what I love about documentary; when you feel the pure sincerity of knowledge filling your brain and bursting with curiosity.

My mind keeps debating on what level of personal I should stay on. As a voyeur, I would prefer to watch someone in their most personal moments , but as a vulnerable artist, I just don't know if I can share all that.

I guess I'm speaking in riddles, because I just can't decide whether I should document absolutely everything, like meeting my boyfriend's parents for the first time and getting to know where he grew up or if I should just stick to the Cantata and the music collaboration. I'm leaning towards the first choice...