Visions of Irad

Visions of Irad (Iradi: Irad Körünüshtörü; Russian: Видения Ирада) is a 1984 Soviet documentary film by Nurlan Sadikov, made at Talasfilm Studios, and his last film. It has no narration, interviews or captions: it follows everyday life across the Iradi SSR, from the factories, markets and courtyards of Talas and Kobozev (now Nurzhan) to villages, winter camps and the herding camps of the high pastures in what are now the Autonomous Tribal Regions.^[1]

It was released with little publicity and drew a lukewarm reception; audiences who knew Sadikov from Desert Sun’s Rebellion (1979) found it slow. Since its restoration by the Talasfilm Archives it has come to be regarded as a national treasure, valued as a record of a way of life that the 1990s and the civil wars changed for good.^[1]

References

1. ^ Talas State University Press (2009). Nurlan Sadikov and the Iradi Western, pp. 132–150.