AI Realism – Qantar 2022
Director
Almagul Menlibayeva
Kazakhstan / 2022
24 min.
/ Original version with English subtitles
Original language
Kazakh, Russian
Qantar 2022. Almagul Menlibayeva’s film catapults us back to January 2022. Just weeks before Russian troops invade Ukraine, 20,000 citizens protest in Kazakhstan against the rise in liquefied gas prices. Pent-up anger is evident in the protests, which are quickly denounced as terrorism and brutally suppressed. Russian troops, among others, nervously intervene in the situation „_calm your people_ / _we can help you_”. Menlibayeva isn’t around. Friends write to her on social media and she follows reports in the press. She enters these voices and texts into the generative AI models that are new in 2022, which expose disturbing images of post-Soviet power structures. The still imperfect AI reveals what it will conceal in the future. A requiem, an appeal to let no more time pass unused. (Christiane Büchner)
Almagul Menlibayeva was born in 1969 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and is a contemporary artist and curator. She works mainly with multi-channel video, photography and multimedia installations. Her work has been exhibited internationally at various biennials and triennials, as well as in galleries and museums. She was awarded the top prize at Kino der Kunst in Munich and the L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Ministry of Culture. She lives between Germany and Kazakhstan.
Director Almagul Menlibayeva. Screenplay Almagul Menlibayeva. Editing Almagul Menlibayeva. Music (OMFO) German Popov. Sound Design (OMFO) German Popov. Production Design Almagul Menlibayeva. Animation Almagul Menlibayeva. Executive Producer Tselinny Center for Contemporary Culture Tselinny Center for Contemporary Culture. Co-Producer Almagul Menlibayeva.
World sales Aisha
Films: 2002: Eternal Bride (short film). 2003: Steppen Baroque (short film). 2007: Headcharge (short film). 2009: Exodus (short film). 2010: Milk for Lambs (short film). 2012: Kurchatov 22 (short film). 2016: Tokamak (short film). 2020: Ulugh Beg: Intrinsic Futuristic Machine of Central Asia (short film). 2022: AI Realism – Qantar 2022. 2023: Nomadizing Water: Lines/Nets vs Blocks (short film), The Tongue and Hunger. Stalin’s Silk Road.
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