Echoes of a Storyteller (2010)

This documentary looks into the tradition of oral storytelling in Kyrgyzstan through the eyes of two main characters--a revered elder and his teenage student. The film explores Soviet and Islamic influence on the Kyrgyz people, whose epic poem Manas has been transmitted orally for over a thousand years. The revered elder, now a national celebrity, recalls fighting in the Soviet army. His student knows nothing of Soviet life; he prays to Allah and records his friend's band with a cell phone camera. These two characters and their relationship to one another gives an honest and personal context to a Central Asian tradition unlike any other in the world.