KHUJAND, October 8, 2010, Asia-Plus — Works by filmmakers participating in the 4th International Festival of Documentaries on Human Rights have been demonstrated in Sughd province.
On October 7, the documentaries were demonstrated in Khujand and today, they were shown in Chkalovsk. On October 9, the festival documentaries will be demonstrated in Taboshar.
We will recall that the 4th International Festival of Documentaries on Human Rights took place in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on September on September 21-15 and then moved to other cities of Kyrgyzstan and Sughd province in Tajikistan. The festival screens 28 documentaries from 16 countries.
In the meantime, press release issued by the Swiss office in Tajikistan on October 6 says that presentation of a documentary “Traditions and Customs of Gypsies” and a book by N. Hakimov “Gypsies – Nomads in Search of Happiness” will take place on sidelines of the 4th International Festival of Documentaries on Human Rights Khujand, Taboshar and Chkalovsk. The project is implemented by the Scientific-research Institute of Fine Arts under financial support of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan through the Regional Program for Art and Culture.
The principal goal of the project lies in studying unique traditional (wedding, funeral, etc.) rites of luli (gypsies) with involvement of leading experts in Tajikistan in order to disclose a dialectical connection between the changed and the conserved, between the contemporary and the traditional in ritual practice. This has an essential social meaning in the aspect of discussing socially important issues, which have a forbidden nature for the society.
Both the documentary and the book reflect the culture and art of national minorities, in particular little-explored rites of the gypsies dwelling in Tajikistan.
The book and the documentary are expected to become important aid materials for studies of gypsies’ traditional culture, as well as to have an appreciable effect on promoting the development of gypsies’ culture.
