The Dance of Men
Women's Paradise
Born in 1957 into a military family, Yusup Razykov studied philology at Tashkent State University before beginning his training in the Department of Screenwriting at the State Institute of Filmmaking (VGIK) in Moscow. He has worked as both a screenwriter and film and television director on such pieces as Orator and Women’s Paradise, and has served as General Director of Uzbekfilm Studios. Razykov has proven a major figure contributing to the emergence of a New Uzbek Cinema.
PROGRAM
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The Dance of Men (Dilhiroj)
Directed by Yusup Razykov.
With Tuti Yusupova, Zikir Mukhammedzhanov, Seving Muminova.
Uzbekistan, 2002, 35mm, color, 77 min.
Uzbek with English subtitles.
With the titled dance serving as a sign of the communal joy taken in the cyclic events of social life, Uzbek director Razykov creates an observational narrative that follows a young man’s entry into the adult world of Islamic Uzbekistan. The boy endures physical pain as his bride-to-be undergoes her own rite of passage. The complications that impede the marriage of this young couple not only suggest the actual conflicts that abound in the culture, but give the work a spiritual and philosophical dimension.
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Women's Paradise (Avollar Saltanati)
Directed by Yusup Razykov.
Uzbekistan, 2000, color, 74 min.
Uzbek with English subtitles.
In Women's Paradise, a college professor and writer is separated from his wife after committing adultery and discovers a women's paradise where his lover, a female student, and his wife are living happily together. Could this truly be paradise or just the projection of a male fantasy? Maintaining a realistic and humorous tone, the film gradually departs from reality and shifts between magic realism and actuality, bringing the viewer into a mesmerizing state.
This event is co-presented by the Program on Central Asia and the Caucasus at Harvard University.
