Shamil Japarov

Biography

Born in 1958, he is a Kyrgyz film director, screenwriter, and producer. Between 1980 and 1985, he studied film directing at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. He has been active in the film and television industry since 1974. In 1995, he founded the Ordo Television and Radio Company, and in 1999, he established the Ordo-Sakhna Folklore and Ethnography Theatre, where he also served as Artistic Director. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Director of the State Cinematography Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic. Since 2014, he has been teaching film directing at the B. Beishenalieva Kyrgyz State University of Culture and Arts. In 2016, he wrote and directed the stage play Duel with Death at the T. Abdumomunov Kyrgyz Drama Theatre. In 2019, he served as both screenwriter and director of the feature film El Kayda Köçöt at Kyrgyzfilm Studio. In 2020, he participated in the development of educational and methodological materials for film directing. In 2022, as the author and artistic director of the Izgi Jol project, he produced ten musical works. In 2023, as the author and artistic director of the state project El Narky, he oversaw the production of twelve video works and three music videos. He is the author, director, and producer of more than 100 feature films, documentaries, short films, television programs, and socially oriented video projects. Since 1987, he has been a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Kyrgyzstan (previously a member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR). Since 2010, he has been an Academician of the Kyrgyzstan Cinema Academy, and since 1984, an Honorary Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the “Oscar” Academy). He is the recipient of numerous international, Soviet-era, and national film festival awards and distinctions.