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The Universe of Manas (1995)

Genres: History, Documentary, Fantasy

For Kyrgyz director Melis Ubukeyev, making a full-length feature film of the Kyrgyz national epic Manas was a lifelong dream. He spent years working with the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan to gather material for the project, which ultimately never came to be. His efforts, though, were not in vain. He made several documentaries about manaschis, the revered oral performers who have preserved the epic for generations through melodic recitation, and in 1995, to mark the 1,000th anniversary of ‘Manas’, he made this captivating essay film, which recounts the epic’s sweeping narrative through breathtaking imagery and opulent costumes, weaving it into a semi-documentary exploration of Kyrgyz history and identity. Ubukeyev wrote, directed and narrated the film himself; it would be his last, as he died only a year later. Once almost impossible to find, the film was digitally restored by the Kyrgyzfilm studio and released in 4K on the studio’s YouTube channel in February 2023.