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With Kirill Razlogov in Busan

Distinguished figure in Russian cultural research and an internationally known film critic, Kirill Razlogov left us unexpectedly on September 26, 2021, leaving all of us deeply saddened and heartbroken. There are probably only a few people in the world who had such a big influence in the world of cinema, Kirill Razlogov was one of them.

His contribution to cinema was multifaceted. Officially he was the program director of the Moscow Film Festival since 1999, but I remember that in 1983, when I, as a student at VGIK, and worked at the festival, he already was a key figure at the festival.

The second important part of Razlogov's career was his scientific activity. In 1989, he was appointed as the Director of the Russian Institute for Cultural Studies. He headed several important projects; important ones included the formulation of the cultural policy of Russia and drafting laws for the film industry and other cultural organisations. In the 2010s, Kirill Razlogov published several books on the history of world cinema, audio-visual arts, and film festivals. He has published 14 books and 600 articles in total and all of them have had a wide global reach.

The third component of his professional life was teaching. He taught the theories of foreign cinema in VGIK when he was an advisor to the chairman of the State Committee for Cinematography (1977-1988). And it was evident that his knowledge was far wider and deeper than that of the Soviet view in that time. Later he taught in VGIK and in the Russian State University for the Humanities. His subject was the history and theory of cinema. He was always followed by many enthusiastic students! Razlogov served on numerous academic councils and supported several PhD students with their dissertations. I am also grateful to him for his support in defending my doctoral dissertation at VGIK.

The fourth area of work was television. Since 1993, he has hosted several highly rated programs about cinema such as «Cinemarathon», «Age of Cinema» and the last - «Cult of Cinema», which this year turned 20 years old, on Russian TV channels.

Fifth - he was the President of the Guild of Film Critics and Film Critics of Russia. Kirill Razlogov had great authority in the world, and in his homeland. He helped promote both foreign cinema in the USSR, and then to Russia, and vice versa - from the post-Soviet era to the world.

He was appreciated, respected, and loved. His passion for  and service to cinema lit the screen for many! He worked hard, lived beautifully and easily, moving around this world! A long-standing member of NETPAC. Kirill will be missed.

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Dr. Gulnara Abikeyeva

Known Kazakh film critic and film researcher. Since 2005 to 2013 she was an artistic director of the International Film Festival Eurasia in Almaty. During different years she made film magazines Asia-kino, Territoriya Kino as editor-in-Chief, TV programmes about Kazakh cinema. In 2001-2002 she was a Fulbright scholar at Bowdoin College, read lectures in Pittsburgh University and made presentation in Harvard, Yale, Tafts Universities in USA. She is the author of ten books about cinema, mostly about Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries. First book was New Kazakh Cinema (1998), next - Cinema of Central Asia: 1990-2001 was awarded by “White Elephant” award of Gild of film critics of Russia as the best book about cinema of the year published in CIS. The book Nation-Building in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian States, and How This Process is Reflected in Cinematography’ (2006) was awarded by national prize “Kulager” as the best book of 2007 in Kazakhstan. As a member of FIPRESCI and NETPAC she was jury member on different international film festivals. Now she is a professor in Turan University in Almaty were she gives lectures on film history and film theory. In 2013 she has three international publications: in Great Britain -  Cinema in Central Asia. Rewriting Cultural Histories, co-edited by Michael Rouland and Birgit Beumers, in South Korea - The Unknown New Wave of Central Asian Cinema, co-edited by Kim Ji - Seok and in Russia in one of the best publishing houses (New Literary Observation, Film texts series) Mahmalbaf’s Film House.