Central Asia: At the Crossroads

The festival focuses on short films from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the Uyghur region of China – works from beyond Europe that have remained largely invisible on the international stage despite profound social and political upheavals.

The programme offers audiences a multi-layered view of Central Asia as a region in which authoritarian structures, global cultural influences and local forms of resistance are closely intertwined.
Film becomes a medium that captures the intersections of social transformation in a heterogeneous region that is shaped as much by shared experiences as by internal differences.

The festival shows films that deal with everyday life, collective memory and identity, feminist and queer perspectives, and the lived realities of marginalised communities.
It is organised by a dedicated group of students who are intensively engaged with cinema from this region and want to bring it to a wider audience.