On A Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here – Feature 2021
Monday, 10/18, 1:15 PM
Wednesday, 10/20, 3:15 PM
On A Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here
Director: Emma Charles & Ben Evans James
Experimental, Kazakhstan, 65 mins.
An expansive journey through the Kazakh steppe, ‘On A Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here’ excavates layers of myth, history and geology to reveal the shifting fault lines between a government, its people and their land.
The film brings into focus Kazakhstan’s search for a post-Soviet identity and a state-sponsored programme of cultural production that on the one hand connects back to the ancient folklore and belief systems of the Silk Road, while on the other, seeks to embrace the values of Western capitalism. Shot on 16mm, the camera is drawn across the landscape taking in locations that include mineral mines, the Eurasian Steppe, the STS decommissioned nuclear site and the newly constructed city of Nur-Sultan.
On A Clear Day You Can See the Revolution From Here provides a meditative faux observational film about the continual process of construction involved in nationhood and national identity.