Gulnara Sarsenova

Gulnara Sarsenova
Born August 6, 1961(1961-08-06)
Nationality Kazakhstan
Occupation Film Producer
Awards
Website
www.gulnarasarsenova.kz

Gulnara Sarsenova graduated from Kazakh State University in Almaty, majoring in journalism. She completed training courses of film director at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. She received additional vocational education at the University of Phoenix in the United States. During 16 years she successfully worked in business structures. Gulnara is the founder of deluxe merchandise network Fantsuzskiy Dom ("French House") in Kazakhstan. She is also a founder of a popular newspaper Novaya Volna ("New Wave") and the Revue magazine. The subject of her PhD thesis is the aesthetics of youth television shows. In 2005 she founded her own production company Eurasia Film Production. She was awarded a French Bonaparte medal and a diploma of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the achievement in business.

In 2008 Gulnara Sarsenova has received the international Asian Film Maker of the Year award at Pusan International Film Festival and the same year she was nominated for Oscar award with her film Mongol directed by Sergey Bodrov Sr. In 2005 and 2008 she was the organizer and general director for Eurasia International Film Festival and in 2010 she was the general director of the 2nd Kazakhstani-American Film Festival held in Almaty.

Filmography

Mongol

"Don't despise a weak cub, it can appear the son of a tiger." -Mongolian proverb

Little boy Temujin, who is to become Genghis Khan, the ruler of the half of the world, overcame hunger, humiliation, slavery. He was hunted, betrayed. He survived, although it seemed impossible. His powers and mind seemed superhuman. He was supported with the love of Börte, Genghis Khan's first and the most loved wife, who couldn't be taken away from him by anybody."

Tulpan

Bulat, the main character, demobilizes and comes back to his loved Kazakhstan. Bulat loves the vast steppe, dusks and dawns. He loves this whole world. He is a former sailor of the Pacific Fleet, and he wishes of becoming shepherd. And he will become one! But there is a problem: in order to get the flock of sheep he must be married. And there is only one girl around for many kilometers. But what a girl she is! And her name is Tulpan...

Awards

The film received a total of 53 awards at various International Film Festivals all over the world throughout 2008-2009.

The Market: A Tale of Trade

A semi-musical tale of cross-border black-market trade of Turkey and Azerbaijan; a comic film with a tragic undertow, an entertaining study of the forces of capitalism and globalization, inspired by the plays of Brecht and the films of Yilmaz Guney.

In the Electric Mist

In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead is another popular Dave Robicheaux series of novels by James Lee Burke. Dave is thrust back 30 years. A hurricane had just hit the area and Dave was out cruising the thrashed swampland at night. In the distance he sees two men with a black man in tow. The black man is wrapped in chains and shot to death by his captors. For 30 years the unsolved murder has hung in the back of Dave's mind. Dave does have some help though, provided indirectly by Elrod Sykes. Elrod speaks of seeing the ghosts of Confederate Army soldiers in swamps. He speaks to them and they give him some sense of guidance. Dave dismisses Elrod's story to alcohol induced haze. That is until Dave sees the ghosts himself. Now, a Civil War general is on Dave's side, providing sage advice that keeps Dave from getting completely out of control. Directed by Bertrand Tavernier. Produced by Michael Fitzgerald, Gulnara Sarsenova, Frederic Bourboulon.

Letters to an Angel

An independent single woman comes back home late at night accompanied by a man she met, who turns out to be the Writer. They spend a night together in her apartment. They both are infatuated and enchanted by each other. The Writer tells beautiful and romantic love fables, and the heroine, in return, tells him about her love sufferings and passionate love to two young men. The love story ends tragically - the heroine looses both men over one night. However the film ends unexpectedly, raising the question whether the Heroine's story is Writer's fiction or not? Did such woman really exist? Or is she just a fiction of the Writer?

Astana My Love

Episodic television series Astana – My Love is a romantic love story, full of intrigue, drama and entwinement of a number of stories. It is a story about main character Erlan, who saw long successful life ahead of him, but he is betrayed by his best friend Abzal and thus has to start his life all over again. Another character is a Turkish beauty Inzhu who arrives to Astana and finds her happiness here. This story could only happen in this blessed and wonderful place – in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. Only owing to this new glorious energy that this city is charged with, the story of young couple becomes more like a fairy tale. Astana is also a character in the film. This is a story Astana connecting people and changing their fates.

The film Astana – my Love is a joint project of Kazakhfilm Studios named after Shaken Aymanov with the largest Asian TV company TRT (Turkey). Film Format: 9 episodes, 44 minutes each, shot in a new, state-of-the-art-format Red One (digital cinema).

Baikonur

The magical love story centers on the French space tourist Julie (played by Marie de Villepin), who lands in the steppes of Kazakhstan after her return from orbit, and the local villager Iskander (Alexander Asochakov), also known as Gagarin, who finds her in the stranded capsule and takes her back to his jurta. Since she has lost her memory, she thinks she is his wife and all kinds of misunderstandings arise. The first ever film that was allowed to be shot at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Directed by Veit Helmer.

References

External links