Guest Column: A Cinematic Challenge to Hollywood (and Bollywood)

By Sasha Meyer

Instead of trying to succeed with home-brewed blockbusters, like the $40 million Nomad, Central Asians should take note of the trends in world cinema and leverage their cinematographic strengths. This strategy would bring both money and recognition sooner.

Up until few years ago, the cost of a professional setup to shoot and edit video was $500,000. Today the same can be achieved with a laptop, camcorder and an editing software – all for $3,000. This astonishing drop in costs has boosted independent cinema, a term used to describe low-budget, less commercially-driven films.

Such movies, known as "independent films" or "indies", have a growing share of the cinema market, already accounting for 15% of the US domestic box office revenue. They can also be big money makers. The most profitable film of all times is the 1999 "Blair Witch Project" which cost $25,000 to make and earned $248 million.

Everybody seems into indies today. "Tarnation" was a surprise hit at Cannes Film Festival - despite costing just $218 to make. Jonathan Caouette, the budding director, made it while working as a doorman at a jewelry shop in New York. Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal was shot on consumer-range camcorders and edited with off-the-shelf editing software on a standard Apple Mac.

The indie trend is not limited to the United States. The achievements of the Iranian cinema are well known. Mongolia presents more recent examples closer to home. "The Story of the Weeping Camel" made in 2003 by two unknown directors on a minuscule budget, won an Oscar nomination and scored more than a dozen of other awards and nominations. Director Byambasuren Davaa has since followed up with "The Cave of the Yellow Dog" which has won five international awards.

The region's filmmakers already have exactly the kind of expertise necessary for success in the indie segment. Since the Soviet economy de-emphasized profits, the local film school had developed strong skills in making films that qualify as indie.

The tradition lives on, as evidenced by the lineup of movies at the recent film festival in Almaty. There are also NGO-supported film projects.

All that is not to say Central Asia shouldn't make big budget films at all. The region's history is replete in epic stories waiting to be told. But the best way to pursue megaprojects is through partnerships . Japanese filmmakers would make excellent partners in that regard. Beginning with Akira Kurosawa, they have mastered the art of using battle scenes and sword fights to tell deep stories. Their latest is "The Blue Wolf: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea", a Genghis Khan epic from director Shinichirô Sawai. Despite some historical inaccuracies, it delivers both action and substance. Costing $30 million, the film topped box office when opened in Japan last March and has been sold to 60 territories.

Nor should Central Asia miss out on Hollywood's glitz and special effects. The region could emulate Macedonia's so far successful efforts to become a global center for special effects production. The region shares with ex-Yugoslovia a legacy of communism: quality science education, which would facilitate the endeavor.