The organizer is the public foundation for culture "Umut Art Cinema," and the project is supported by the Department of Cinematography of the Ministry of Culture, Information, and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic.
UmutDoc emerged from the young cinema forum "Umut," which was established in 2013 and has become an important platform for supporting young filmmakers in Central Asia. However, the region has long lacked a specialized platform for documentary cinema.
The goal of UmutDoc is to create a sustainable foundation for the development of documentary cinema and to emphasize its role as a means of cultural self-expression, dialogue, and creative collaboration.
As part of the festival's initial events, a joint workshop will be held with the French association Docmonde for documentary filmmakers Eurasiadoc, organized with the support of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France.
From December 4 to 14, a workshop for directors from Central Asia will take place. Participants, already selected for the event, will receive online consultations from foreign mentors that will last for two weeks, after which the second stage — an in-person workshop — will begin.
The in-person workshop will include group sessions, individual meetings with mentors, practical shooting, scouting, project preparation for pitching, as well as film screenings and discussions.On December 6 and 7, the festival will feature retrospective and special screenings. The first screenings will be dedicated to the documentary cinema of Kyrgyzstan, including the legacy of masters such as Karel Abdykulov and Sergey Chadin, as well as contemporary examples of documentary filmmaking. Additionally, there will be a special screening of works by participants of the Eurasiadoc workshop.
