Section: Close-Up: Kazakhstan

THE NEEDLE

THE NEEDLE

Rachid Nougmanov
KAZ, 1988, 77 Min

A rock star, drugs and Kazakhstan in the 80s. In dark Alma-Ata, cool drifter Moro fights against drug lords and the demons of his past. Played by legendary KINO frontman Viktor Tsoi. 

Moro, a mysterious loner, is on a mission to enforce debts. When he meets his ex-girlfriend Dina, who is caught in the clutches of morphine addiction and an unscrupulous drug lord, an odyssey of love, drugs and rebellion begins. THE NEEDLE takes us on an impressive journey through a devastated, post-apocalyptic landscape – the dry Aral Sea. Here, in the wasteland, Moro tries to free Dina from her addiction and confronts the shadow of his past. But the demons of addiction cannot be banished so easily, and Dina's relapse catapults her back into the dark abyss of the city, where the film delves into a world full of hallucinogenic visions. Accompanied by Tsoi's hypnotic music, which blurs the boundaries between paranoid nightmare and stylized narco-euphoria. A performance that made Tsoi immortal after his tragic accidental death in 1990 and made the film a timeless portrait of the late Soviet era.

Text: Joshua Jádi

 

The film will be shown in the Weltspiegel in the original language with English subtitles and simultaneously translated into German. Headphones are available free of charge against a deposit in the cinema foyer.

The film will be shown at the Obenkino in the original language and with English subtitles. No translation into German!

Rachid Nougmanov

Rachid Nougmanov - Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Rachid Nougmanov graduated from an architectural institute and received his second degree at the VGIK Moscow Film Institute. His first feature Igla (The Needle, 1988) initiated what was to become in cinematic history: the 'Kazakh New Wave'. Claiming recognition at festivals including Berlin (world premiere), Toronto and Sundance, the film was released in the USSR with the resulting box office number of 30 million admissions. His second feature Diki Vostok (The Wild East, 1993), shot during the breakup of the USSR and presented as the 'Last Soviet Film', won acclaim in venues spanning from Venice (world premiere) to Los Angeles to Tokyo. Teaching writing and directing, he has authored Dramaticon, an original screenwriting method. In 2015-2017, Nougmanov served as General Director of the Eurasia International Film Festival, accredited by the FIAPF. Currently, President of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Kazakhstan.

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