The phenomenon of the Kazakh new wave is not yet unraveled. It appeared on the border of the eras when the Soviet Union existed, and continued into the era of independence. Perhaps it was the films of the Kazakh "wave" that formed a sense of freedom in our minds. “New-wavers” came to the cinema and, as it is sung in the song of Viktor Tsoi, they said:  “Further we will act!”‍

This book is not only a story about how the "Kazakh new wave" was formed and strengthened, how it conquered the world, surprising the audience with its European style of writing and Asian temperament. Six interviews with directors, graduates of the workshop of Sergei Solovyov, are master classes in creating world-class cinema. Reviews from film critics from New York to Singapore are an indication that our "wave" has never been a local phenomenon, but had a global reach. 

Gulnara Abikeeva is a film critic, professor at ALMAU, and an author of eleven books about cinema. Her book Cinema of Central Asia received the prestigious White Elephant Award of Guild of Film Critics of Russia as the best book about cinema of the year published in CIS, and her Nation-Building in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian States, and How This Process Is Reflected in Cinematography (2006) was awarded the national Kulager Prize of the Union of Cinematographers of Kazakhstan as the best film study of the year. Recently, she has a series of international publications: Makhmalbaf Cinema House [original title: Кинодом Махмальбаф] (Russia), Cinema in Central Asia: Rewriting Cultural Histories (Great Britain) co-edited by Birgit Beumers and Michael Rouland, The Unknown New Wave of Central Asian Cinema (South Korea), co-edited by Kim Ji-Seok. She is a member of FIPRESCI, NETPAC and the APSA Academy. In 2016, Gulnara Abikeeva was awarded by French L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

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