Kydykeeva Baken
Film actress. People's Artist of the USSR (1970). Laureate of the State Prize of the Kyrgyz SSR named after Toktogul (1970). Born on October 20, 1923, in the village of Tokoldosh in the Voroshilov district (now Alamedin district) in a peasant family. After finishing seven grades at secondary school No. 5 in Frunze, she began performing on the stage of the Young Spectator Theater from 1938 to 1941. In 1941, she joined the troupe of the Przhevalsky Regional Drama Theater, and then from 1942 to 1944, she was an actress at the Tien-Shan Regional Drama Theater. Since 1945, she became one of the leading actresses of the Kyrgyz Drama Theater.
Her first major roles, such as Larisa in "The Dowry" by A. Ostrovsky, Aiganish in "Kurmanbek" by K. Djantoshev, and Katerina in "The Storm" by A. Ostrovsky, revealed to the audience the significant and original talent of the actress. Over forty years, the actress created more than 100 diverse and character-rich images. Many of them have entered the golden fund of Kyrgyz dramatic art: Anna ("Anna Karenina" by L. Tolstoy), Seyde ("Face to Face" by Ch. Aitmatov), Desdemona ("Othello" by W. Shakespeare), Laurencia ("The Sheep's Well" by Lope de Vega), Maria Alexandrovna ("The Family" by I. Popov), and others. The actress achieved great success in "The Optimistic Tragedy," creating a vivid image of the Commissioner. This role was awarded a prize at the All-Union Theater Festival in 1976.
In 1974, B. Kydykeeva made her debut as a director, presenting to the audience a lyrical, unique performance "Mahabbat" based on the play by A. Osmonov.
Her many years of serious work on stage helped the actress become a great master in cinema. Her first film character, Saltanat, is a woman agronomist, uncompromising in both public and personal life.
Human charm and temperament combined with a rare ability to independently shape the character of a character are traits that determined the constant attention of directors to the actress. No film from the "Kyrgyzfilm" studio was complete without her, starting from "Toktogul" (1959) and "The Pass" (1961). However, neither V. Nemolyaev nor A. Sakharov could offer B. Kydykeeva an interesting interpretation of the roles of Burma and Raykhan. She played strikingly, expressively, but without a deep penetration into the characters, which were also deprived by the playwrights of volume and life authenticity.
B. Kydykeeva's talent fully revealed itself on screen only in the 1960s, when the arrival of young directors, screenwriters, and cinematographers—graduates of VGIK and Higher Script and Directing Courses—brought an orientation towards documentary accuracy in depicting the environment, philosophical significance, and artistic originality in reflecting life problems to Kyrgyz cinema. In M. Ubukeev's film "White Mountains" (1964, "Difficult Crossing"), the actress created a majestic image of a blind woman (awarded as the best actress of the year at the competition of cinematographers of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in Almaty in 1965), who lost all her loved ones during the uprising of 1916. In her behavior, manner of moving, and speaking, the audience is struck by the stoic calmness, that special wisdom born from suffering—both her own and that of the people—which allows a simple peasant woman to foresee the future. By generalizing the fates of many in the image of the heroine, the actress did not deprive it of individual, everyday traits. The symbolic in the Blind grew out of credible details, from the overall tone of the film.
B. Kydykeeva endowed all her heroines, starting with Saltanat, with a proud sense of dignity. But with the Blind and Chernukha in "The First Teacher" (1965), this character trait acquires multiple meanings and deep psychological justification. The tragic dignity is given to her by time. But it also elevates the human fate to the fate of the people through harsh trials. This is shown by the actress through the example of Tolgonai in G. Bazarov's film "Mother's Field" (1967, awarded for best female role at the VII competition of cinematographers of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in Frunze in 1968). This woman symbolizes the Mother, whose great resistance to suffering and death is the guarantee of humanity's immortality on Earth. And she is also just a peasant woman, like the Blind. The blows of fate this time did not extinguish the light in her eyes. The contemplation of the beauty of the world sharpened Tolgonai's grief to ecstasy. And then came the wise realization of the necessity to continue living and working.
The realization of oneself as a personality, equal to men in labor and the struggle for high moral ideals—this is what unites the squadron commissioner Khadicha Aminova in "Riders of the Revolution" (1967) by K. Yarmatov with the wife of the herdman Zhaidar in "The Gallop of the Trotter" (1969) by S. Urusevsky. The decisiveness and assertiveness of the modern woman were even comically emphasized by the actress in the film "Street" (1972) by G. Bazarov. But the nature of her talent is closer to the drama of the soul. In the Uzbek film "Meetings and Partings" (1974, directed by E. Ishmukhamedov), B. Kydykeeva managed to reveal to the audience the tragedy of loss of her heroine Khodichikhon-begim's Homeland. And in "The Eye of the Eye" (1976, diploma for the role of Asylkan at the All-Union Film Festival in Riga in 1977) by G. Bazarov, the actress again plays a Kyrgyz mother, again in a dramatic moment of life—the death of her husband. A strong woman, she must be and will be a reliable support for the family.
Other films: "Alymkan" (Burma), "Shot at the Karash Pass" (Kadicha-baybiche), "The Secret of the Ancestors" (mother of the Chukchi), "The Field of Aysulu" (secretary of the district committee), "Amanat" (grandmother of Amanat), "The Process" (mother of Dariha).
Awards — medals "For Labor Distinction" (1946), "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War" (1947), "For Labor Distinction. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin" (1970). Certificate of the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR (1946). Order of Lenin (1958). Honorary certificates of the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR (1969, 1973, 1977).
Member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR since 1970.
BOOKS, ARTICLES, REVIEWS
The Greatest Goal.— "Soviet Culture," 1961, August 22.
My Stanislavsky.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1963, January 18.
Heroines of My Dreams.— "Soviet Cinema," 1963, October 12.
Life in the Name of a Dream.— "Komsomolets of Kyrgyzstan," 1966, October 12.
First Review.— "Pravda," 1972, May 5.
To the Russian Theater — a Deep Bow.— "Soviet Culture," 1974, November 1.
A Year of Joyful Labor.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1975, January 1.
To Be Worthy of People's Recognition.— "Art of Cinema," 1979, No. 8, p. 136.
WORKS ON THE ACTRESS'S CREATIVITY
Baken Kydykeeva.— "Film Dictionary." Moscow, "Soviet Encyclopedia," 1970, vol. 2, p. 1117.
Borov A. Baken Kydykeeva,— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1956, March 18.
Borov A. and Ukayev K. Baken.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1967, May 28.
Borov A. Baken Kydykeeva.— "Soviet Woman," 1975, No. 7, p. 36.
Gurevich L. Baken Kydykeeva.— Collection "Actors of Soviet Cinema," Moscow, "Art," 1973, issue 9, pp. 154—167.
Jumabekov B. Baken Kydykeeva,— "Literary Kyrgyzstan," 1967, pp. 115—123.
Dosumbaev K. The Happy Fate of Baken Kydykeeva.— "Evening Frunze," 1980, May 26.
Zakrzhevskaya D. Baken Kydykeeva.— "Komsomolets of Kyrgyzstan," 1970, August 13.
Ivanova V. Finding or Losing.— "Soviet Screen," 1974, No. 15, p. 5.
Ivanova V. The Silence of Baken Kydykeeva.— "Soviet Screen," 1974, No. 20, pp. 8—9.
Ivanova V. Baken Kydykeeva.— Collection "Screen 74—75." Moscow, "Art," 1976, pp. 156—159.
Ivanova V. The Fate of the Actress.— "Soviet Screen," 1978, No. 22, p. 12.
Imankulov D. All Life in Art.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1970, June 30.
Kladо N. A Story Instead of Reflections.— "Soviet Screen," 1968, No. 5, p. 5.
Kozhukova G. "Mother's Field."— "Pravda," 1967, December 6.
Logovinskaya M. Laurencia — Desdemona — Saltanat.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1957, p. 26.
Ostrovkin I. Baken Kydykeeva.— "Soviet Screen," 1960, No. 17, p. 7.
Ryskulov M. Both Mastery and Inspiration.— "Soviet Culture," 1974, February 12.
Chernovich V. The Film Screen of Baken Kydykeeva.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1973, December 16.