Citizenship in Perspective: Documentary Film ‘Oqlanmagan – Unexonerated’

The Moynihan Institute’s Central Asia and the Caucasus Initiative presents a political prisoners’ talk in the documentary film “Oqlanmagan – Unexonerated.”

During the “perestroika” period in the 1980s the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic experienced a revival of national and Islamic identity; both became a core of pro-democracy resistance to Soviet rule. Despite publicly embracing democracy, the former president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov saw both movements as a threat to his continued power. Following Karimov’s death in 2016, his successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, acknowledged for the first time the existence of a blacklist against former prisoners, their social contacts, and extended family.

The “Oqlanmagan – The Unexonerated,” a documentary produced by the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs with the Uzbek video artist Umida Akhmedova and Citylab Productions, is one of the first attempts to tell the story of more than 18,000 people formerly designated as “extremists” by the previous government of Uzbekistan. This event will feature a screening of the film followed by a discussion with Noah Tucker, Oxus Society senior researcher, and the film’s producer.

Organizers:

–          Central Asian and the Caucasus Initiative (CACI)

–          Central Asia and the Caucasus Student Union (CACSU)

Lunch will be provided.