![Rus Stamp-Yarmatov](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Rus_Stamp-Yarmatov.gif)
Kamil Yarmatov ( tg, Комил Ёрматов; 2 May 1903 in
Konibodom 24 November 1978 in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
) was a prominent actor and director in the
cinema of Tajikistan
In parallel to what happened in other Soviet republics, a cinema of Tajikistan was promoted by the Soviet state, and declined in the first years after the independence, before being revitalized through the efforts of the new government.
Origins: ...
during the Soviet era.
He later moved to
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
and then to Moscow.
Biography
A member since his juvenile years of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he went to Moscow to study under
Valentin Turkin
Valentin Konstantinovich Turkin (russian: Валентин Константинович Туркин; 6 February 1887 – 10 January 1958) was a screenwriter, film critic, and film theorist
Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within t ...
at the
Moscow Film School, where he graduated in 1931. Before graduation, he had already starred in the Soviet propaganda movies ''The Jackals of Ravat'' (1927), ''From the Arch of the Mosque'' (1928), both directed by Kasimir Gertel (1889–1938), and ''The Last Bek'' (1930).
After graduating in Moscow, Yarmatov went back to his native Tajikistan to help with the newly established state cinema company Tajikkino, where he started his directing career. In 1932, Yarmatov directed ''Honored Right'' and ''On the Faraway Frontier''. Both were Soviet patriotic documentaries, the first about the mobilization of Tajiks in the Soviet army, and the second describing the life of border guards at the Afghan frontier.
In 1934, Yarmatov both directed and starred as the leading actor in the first full-length feature film produced in Tajikistan, ''Emigrant''. The script had been written by the Armenian poet
Gabriel El-Registan
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
and the film was approved by the authorities for distribution throughout the Soviet Union, as it argued that Tajiks who remained in Socialist Tajikistan had a better life than those who emigrated from the Soviet Union. It was one of the last Soviet silent movies.
In 1934, leading Russian director
Lev Kuleshov
Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov (russian: Лев Владимирович Кулешов; – 29 March 1970) was a Russian and Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, one of the founders of the world's first film school, the Moscow Film School. He ...
was sent to Tajikistan to improve the quality of local movies. He worked for two years at a movie based on the novel ''Dokhunda'' by Tajik national poet
Sadriddin Ayni
Sadriddin Ayni ( tg, Садриддин Айнӣ, fa, صدرالدين عينى, russian: Садриддин Саидмуродович Саидмуродов; 15 April 1878 – 15 July 1954) was a Tajik intellectual who wrote poetry, fiction, j ...
, starring Yarmatov, but the project was regarded with suspicion by the authorities as possibly exciting Tajik nationalism, and stopped. No footage survives.
In 1939, Tajikkino produced ''Friends Meet Again'' by Yarmatov, which exalted economic progress under
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
but also denounced infiltration by foreign spies, a typical Stalinist theme.
In 1940, Yarmatov moved to
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
, where producing films was easier than in Tajikistan, and then to Russia.
In 1947, he directed ''
Alisher Navoi
'Ali-Shir Nava'i (9 February 1441 – 3 January 1501), also known as Nizām-al-Din ʿAli-Shir Herawī ( Chagatai: نظام الدین علی شیر نوایی, fa, نظامالدین علیشیر نوایی) was a Timurid poet, writer ...
'', on the life of poet, politician, and mystic
Ali-Shir Nava'i. The movie won the
Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to:
* The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...
and consecrated Yarmatov as a nationally famous patriotic Soviet director. When he visited
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
in 1957, the local vice-minister of culture told him that ''Alisher Navoi'' was one of the first Soviet movies screened for the guerrilla fighters during the
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
.
In 1952, Yarmatov directed ''Pakhta-oi'', a patriotic film for children about the production of cotton, and in 1957 achieved again national success in the Soviet Union with ''Avicenna'', a film on the life of
Ibn Sina.
His later movies were less successful, as a new generation of Soviet filmmakers was moving away from the patriotic tunes typical of Yarmatov, but he assumed a semi-official role as an ambassador of Soviet cinema throughout the world, until his death in Moscow in 1978.
In 2013, Tajik director Safarnek Soliev Kamil directed a documentary celebrating the 110th anniversary of the birth of Yarmatov. It was selected to open the 2014
Didor International Film Festival in
Dushanbe
Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...
, the most important film festival in Tajikistan.
References
{{Authority control
1903 births
1978 deaths
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Soviet film directors
Soviet male actors
Tajikistani cinematographers
Heroes of Socialist Labour
Stalin Prize winners