One of Kazakhstan’s most prominent documentary filmmakers has been exploring the human condition in his work for nearly 40 years. His portraits of people who have formed their own value systems with remarkable precision challenge viewers with the subjects’ radical views on the nature of the world. For this retrospective as part of NOMSIZ, we have selected two films in which human cruelty and compassion are revealed through people’s attitudes toward animals.

Vladimir Tyulkin is a Kazakhstani documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. He studied at LGITMiK in D. Karasik’s workshop and graduated from the Advanced Courses for Screenwriters and Directors in G. Chukhrai’s workshop. His most productive period was during the 1980s and 1990s, during which he made a series of diverse portrait films and observational works:

“Champion Number One,” “Lord of the Flies,” “The Trial of the Cross.”

LORD OF THE FLIES, 1991

The protagonist of “Lord of the Flies” is a charismatic man approaching retirement age from an unnamed village in Kazakhstan. He devotes all his free time to the “fly trap”—a device for breeding flies with the aim of exterminating them. Over the course of the film, the protagonist, who hates the USSR with all his heart, reveals himself to be a tyrant with his own utopia.

NOT ABOUT DOGS, 2010

The film *Not About Dogs* features two main characters. On one hand, there is a retired woman who spends her last pennies on keeping more than 70 dogs in her home. On the other, there is a middle-aged man who hunts stray dogs to make a living. Religious kindness and cynical evil are separated only by the cuts in the editing.