Uzbek TV – master of “cutting” movies (updated)

On July 11 the Uzbek film director Zulfikar Musakov posted on his Facebook page an open letter expressing his outrage for the “systematic and deliberate cutting of films” done by the state TV channel in Uzbekistan. In a letter to the Chairman of the Uzbek National TV and Radio Company, Alisher Khojayev, the director compares these actions to “TV-bullying” and asked to provide the public with an explanation for this “abuse”.

On the night of July 10-11, my film “Vatan” (Motherland) was shown at 02 o’clock in the morning with huge cut-outs. “8 (!) meaningful episodes were cut-out”, wrote Zulfikar Musakov.

It is known that also another of his films, “Abdullajon”, has been shown on this TV channel with huge cuts.

According to the famous comedian Obid Asomova, under the mask of unofficial bans there are Uzbek officials proving to be masters of film censorship.

“There is a beautiful film called “Alpomysh”, in which I played a cameo role lasting 7-8 minutes. They show the film on holidays, but the places where the film took place, at the beginning and end of the film, were cut. “Dad, you were cut again”, say my children. And it is interesting that in the credits of the film my name is kept”, said Obid Asomov in one of his interviews.

The Uzbek film “Watan” underwent TV censorship in Uzbekistan, but in 11 years it won 6 main prizes at international festivals. But in the words of its director, after such a “show”, he has become “like a child whose hands and feet were cut off alive.”

“Who is this inappropriate and malicious person who committed this act of vandalism?”, asks Zulfikar Musakov in an open letter.

After this publication, the director Zulfikar Musakov wrote a comment which shows that he has not received any response from the broadcasting company so far.

“On July 11, the day before witnesses, I called the reception of the President of the National Television and Radio Company, and informed the Chairman that I sent them a letter. I also gave her the number of my mobile phone, in the hope that someone would respond … On the same day I called both him and the Director of the National agency, Uzbekkino Musayev OE. I called, but in vain… Without waiting for the call, I published an open letter … It is in the habit of many high chiefs to simply do not respond to ordinary people’s complaints. This way they on the one hand demonstrate their absolute indifference and self-impunity, and on the other they recognize what a mess they have done … I had hundreds of thousands of witnesses, that is spectators, who had not slept that night because of the EURO 2016 … I’m not personally familiar with the Chairman of the state broadcasting company, and I do not have anything personal against him, however, I hope that he will personally and quietly sort this blatant case of vandalism out, and take some measures to address this case. The perpetrator of this “TV-hooliganism” has to apologize to the filmmakers, and most importantly, there should be no more barbaric cuts of Uzbek films…”, wrote Zulfiqar Musakov in his commentary on the Eltuz page.