H Have you ever wondered why Russia is actually so large? The reason lies in the colonial conquests under the tsars, which began in the 16th century—indigenous peoples were forcibly subdued, Russified, and Christianized. When the Soviet empire collapsed 35 years ago, many of these regions colonized by Russia proclaimed their independence, but the Kremlin did not permit it. Members of the indigenous peoples who form minorities in the Russian Federation suffer from racism and are particularly often affected by poverty.
In the Far East of the Russian Federation lies the largest of these regions, the Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia. Named after the Sakha people, a Turkic people who have their own language, culture, and religion. That these traditions have survived despite centuries of Russian hegemony could be seen at the end of September at the first Sakha Film Festival in Berlin.
At a discussion with Yakut filmmakers at Kulturfabrik Moabit, the Istanbul-based producer Marianna Siegen described that, in her experience, hardly anyone knows where their homeland actually lies—even not in western Russia, where she is perceived as a foreigner. She speaks in her mother tongue Sakha, which is translated into English, that she grew up with the Sakha religion, in which the sun is the center.
Her colleague, director Er Sanaa Oh-Khotor, adds that the Sakha see themselves as children of the living nature, of the sunbeams. Shamans are still treated with great respect in Sakha society, as they can connect the three worlds—the middle world in which humans live, the lower world, and the upper world reserved for the spirits. Despite the public suppression by Russian influence, the Sakha language is preserved within families.
The festival opened with the documentary “Silis” (2022), “Roots,” by director Diana Khudaeva. It shows the lifestyle of the Yakuts governed by traditional customs across the four seasons, of which the harsh winter forms the longest. The film is accompanied by an epic Sakha poem, an Oloncho, written especially for it, which, contrary to tradition, is recited by a woman, thereby consciously breaking with tradition.
Haunting at the Garbage Dump
My personal highlight was the feature film “Timir” (2023). In the catchy, bittersweet tragicomedy in retro aesthetics, it is the debut film by Nikolai Koryakin. The tableau-like narrative unfolds in a Yakut village, where the protagonist, the little Timir, is sent after the death of his mother. There he meets his father, a heavy drinker.
When the boy seeks to follow the rumors of haunting at the forest garbage dump, his bleak life takes an unexpected turn. For there he encounters a soul trapped in the middle world of humans—a kind-hearted spirit with a CCCP baseball cap.
During the discussion, the director noted that he had intended to make a Sakha film in Wes Anderson’s style. He has succeeded in doing so.
