''Turksib'' (russian: Турксиб) is a 1929 Soviet documentary film directed by Viktor Alexandrovitsh Turin documenting the building of the

Turkestan–Siberia Railway The Turkestan–Siberian Railway (commonly abbreviated as the ''Turk–Sib'', kk, Түрксіб, translit=Türksib, , ; russian: Турксиб, translit=Turksib) is a broad gauge railway that connects Central Asia with Siberia. It starts nort ...

. The rail line stretched northeast from

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

to Almaty and on to

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

. The film contrasts the open desert and sand, with the order of rails and movement of machines. The Turkic people ride horses and camels and rear sheep. This drama is set against the dry steppe as it is converted into a cotton growing region. "Turksib" was particularly appreciated by the classic British and Canadian documentary filmmaker John Grierson, who prepared the English version of the picture. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

in 2011 as part of ''The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Night Mail'', with a newly commissioned soundtrack by Guy Bartell of British group

Bronnt Industries Kapital Bronnt Industries Kapital is a musical project from Bristol, England based around producer and multi-instrumentalist Guy Bartell. It has released six studio albums, ''Virtute et Industria'', ''Häxan'', ''Hard for Justice'', ''Turksib'', ''Arsenal'' ...

References

External links

* 1929 films Soviet silent feature films Soviet documentary films 1929 documentary films Black-and-white documentary films Documentary films about rail transport Soviet black-and-white films 1920s Russian-language films 1920s Soviet films {{silent-documentary-film-stub