Before 1917, there was no film production in Kyrgyzstan. To highlight the life of the peoples of Central Asia, the "Vostokkino" association was established, and the first film stories and films about Kyrgyzstan began to be released in the late 1920s. Cinematographers from Moscow came to the republic to shoot the life of the Kyrgyz people. The founder of Soviet geographical cinema, V. Shneiderov, filmed travel films "At the Foot of Death" (1928) and "At an Altitude of 4500 Meters" (1931) based on his own scripts, which, along with other scenic and ethnographic films, played a significant educational role, familiarizing viewers across the USSR with the unique national culture and way of life of the Kyrgyz. During these years, the "Soyuzkhronika" released the feature film "Kyrgyzstan" (directed by T. Satarov). One of the most important tasks of cultural construction in the second half of the 1930s was the creation of Kyrgyz cinema, with significant assistance provided by Uzbek filmmakers led by M. Kayumov.
In 1942, by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz SSR, the Frunze Studio of Newsreels was organized based on the newsreel office. A Russian team worked here under the leadership of operator M. Kolsanov and director D. Erdman. In the first half of the 1940s, Kyrgyzstanis began to independently release a biweekly newsreel "Soviet Kyrgyzstan." During the Great Patriotic War, films such as "Preparation of Military Reserves for the Red Army," "Construction of the Big Chui Canal," "Mercury to the Front," "Wool, Bread, Milk, Meat to the Front," and others were made. Many operators from the Frunze studio served as correspondents for the newsreel "News of the Day" and the All-Union Film Studio. By the end of the war, more than 100 issues of the newsreel "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" had been produced. By the late 1940s, a collective of Kyrgyz documentarians had finally formed, and thanks to their efforts under challenging production conditions, the volume of film production significantly expanded, creating a real opportunity for the mass release of documentary films, the first of which illustrated the achievements of the republic in various sectors of the economy. In the mid-1950s, deep changes occurred in the documentary cinema of Kyrgyzstan. Young specialists A. Tokarev, I. Kokeiev, R. Momuralieva, L. Turusbekova, T. Okeev, K. Kydyraliev, and M. Turatbekov, educated in Moscow, Leningrad, and Frunze, began to work at the studio. Breaking established traditions, they started to reinterpret daily events, which later allowed them to partially free themselves from total informationality and focus on finding ways to deeply penetrate the characters of people and their surrounding social environment. A significant role was assigned to the narrator, who was expected not only to convey information but also to often express the author's position.
In the early 1960s, Kyrgyz documentary filmmakers M. Ubukeev, S. Ishenov, G. Bazarov, K. Omurkulov, and others, expanding the themes of their films, tirelessly sought new, vivid expressive means, using hidden cameras and synchronous sound recording to study their impact on the audience. A film that draws great interest in this regard is "Factory Meetings" (directed by Y. Gershtein, 1963), which successfully used sound-noise effects for the first time, subordinated to the main idea of showing the life of people at one factory. A similar "second birth of sound" occurred in the film "Addressed to the Sun" (directors A. Vidugiris and M. Morgachev, 1963). The sound-noise accompaniment enriched the film's poetics. New directors also emerged. The films "Mountain Rivers," "Akyn" (about Alykul Osmonov) by M. Ubukeev; "Manaschi" (about Sayakbay Karalaev), "Shepherd" by B. Shamsiev; "These Are Horses," "Muras," "Byubusara Beyshenalieva," "Artist Chuykov" by T. Okeev; "Hippocratic Oath" (about surgeon Ise Akhunbaev) by I. Gorelik; "The Great Epic" by L. Turusbekova, created in the mid-1960s, brought international fame to Kyrgyz cinema. Two feature films by A. Vidugiris, "Naryn Diary" (1971) and "In the Year of the Unquiet Sun" (1977), which captured the creative labor of builders of the Toktogul HPP, hold a special place, where the author acts not only as a witness but also as an active participant. Documentaries were made not only on production themes. There were films where directors placed great importance on the connection between the authentic fact and personal authorial perception, with a critical analysis of reality. Such were the films by K. Yusupzhanova "The Shepherd and the Fog," "The Tiger Took Two Cows on the Jailyoo," Sh. Apylov's "Kiyir," K. Abdykulov's "Zhorgo," "Paths," Sh. Japarov's "The Nomad's Journey," K. Akmataliev's "Nakyil Kitep" (about Kyrgyz encyclopedists), K. Kydyraliev's "Beshik" (about sculptor T. Sadykov).
In 1962, L. Turusbekova made the film "The Great Epic," which opened a unique series of films on the theme of the epic "Manas." The unwavering attention of listeners, captured in this and other films, to the storytellers is astonishing and impressive — they, in ancient times, while celebrating the feats of legendary heroes, helped keep the fire in the hearth, connecting the past with the present. B. Shamsiev's film "Manaschi" (1965) introduced the world to the image of the great storyteller Sayakbay Karalaev, generating widespread interest with its original thematic development (it won the main prize at the international film festival in Oberhausen). Since the late 1980s, there has been a transformation in the content of films dedicated to "Manas" — films of the new time reflect the coexistence of the epic and the modern world. In the films "The Last Manaschi" by M. Ubukeev (1989) and "Kaaba" by Sh. Apylov (1992), the image of the storyteller acquired the traits of a lonely creator, often lacking an interested audience. In the film "My Master is Al Manbet" by E. Abdyjaparov (1993), a talented person is presented, who had all the qualities of a storyteller but did not become one.
Changes in public life that occurred after the collapse of the USSR also affected documentary filmmaking. Films reflecting these changes include: "Stop" (1994), "Taranchy" (1997), "Aldey," "Alhambra" (2000) by E. Abdyjaparov; "Don't Cry, Rhinoceros" (1994), "Devil's Bridge," "Zhaiyk" by T. Birnazarov; "Window" by B. Aitkuluev, dedicated to the struggle of people with difficulties in transitional times.
