Film studio "Kazakhfilm" started work on the movie about the destiny of different people accepted by the Kazakhs in 1930-40s during the mass repressions, deportations and evacuation. This movie's purpose is to express gratitude through film. The scenario was written by Lavrentiy Son and Slambek Tauekel with the working title "Atazhurt" - "The Land of the People". The characters are people of various ethnicities: Kazakhs, Koreans, Turks, Germans, Jews, Chechens, Kurds, Russians, Ukrainians, Poles and Belarusians.

The work on the scenario, based on the cycle of stories "A Bundle of Firewood off My Shoulder …" by Lavrentiy Son, commenced as early as 2000, and the script was translated into German, Korean and Kazakh languages as, according to the intention of the producers, all the roles would be played by the representatives of the corresponding ethnicities. An actor from South Korea has already given his consent to participate in shooting. Negotiations are in progress with the Grozniy Academic Theatre to find an artist for the role of Chechen old man.

The film is based on real events. One of the scriptwriters, Lavrentiy Son, grew up in Ush-Tobe. The small town resembled the world model. There, in Babylon-like chaos, life went on: children were raised, characters toughened, fates lived… Lavrentiy named the main character Orynbay after a person, upon which it was based and who was the elder of the community.

The main topic of the film is the deportation of people from the Far East and Caucasus to Kazakhstan and Central Asia during the period from October 1937 to October 1945. But in fact it began even earlier when a part of the Kazakh population moved to China in the 30's because of starvation. Those who remained on the native land were hungry and cold, but accepted Koreans in 1937, Germans, Jews and Belarusians in 1941, Kurds, Turks and Chechens in 1944.

The film will tell about how people of different mentalities and religions found common language and therefore they survived, in spite of the difference of cultures, training and national traditions. This is the film about the hardest time in the history of the country, and about Kazakhstan's people who stayed alive and managed to preserve their kindness, love and faith.

Due to the importance of the project, this dramatic movie is under the patronage of the Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The creators of the film are keen to reconstruct the realities of that time, to build the precise replica of the village, winter houses and mud huts, which people dug and built with bare hands in the freezing steppe, and in which their fathers and grandfathers lived. Unfortunately, the funds are very limited.

Preservation of history and memorable events is an honourable and responsible task. It is sincerely hoped that the descendants of the people who were deported and evacuated to Kazakhstan would support this project. So far, there is not enough money to fulfil the budget of this film and to recreate a truthful image of the past. The initiators of the movie would be grateful to everyone who is able to assist in the implementation of this project, and would appreciate support of any kind, including help in building decorations and purchasing film.

Lyudmila Starodubova