EURASIAN CREATIVE GUILD (LONDON)
AUTUMN FESTIVALS

From 25-30 September 2023, the resort of Burabay (Kazakhstan) hosted four ground-breaking events: Poetry & Art Festival III Voices of Friends: Poetry & Art, Literary Festival XII Open Eurasian Literary Festival and Book Forum, Burabay Social Film Festival (II BISFF) and Discovery Travel Forum dedicated to creative industries in tourism.

The festivals are organised by the British non-profit organisation Eurasian Creative Guild (London) with the support and participation of the hotels Rixos Borovoe, House by the Lake, Wyndham Garden Burabay, Park Hotel Kokshetau, Park House, as well as with the volunteer and technical support of the Higher Pedagogical College of Shchuchinsk.

This year’s important event brought together more than 60 poets, novelists, artists, musicians and filmmakers from 18 countries, making it the largest of the ECG (London) festivals in the last three years and possibly the largest ever held in the history of the Burabay region. Delegates came from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the UK, Poland, Lithuania, Israel, Russia, Finland, Australia, Uzbekistan, the USA, Georgia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Pakistan, Germany and Belarus. This is the third time the festival has been held in Kazakhstan, and each time the participants take home the warmest memories. It is very encouraging that many of them keep coming back to the festival.

The festival programme began in the city of Shchuchinsk, at the ECG HORIZONS Burabay creative residence. On Monday, 25 September, there was an introductory meeting for the participants of the festival, where the guests could learn more about the rich programme of the festival period.
The next day, the programme kicked off – this year it included more than 25 personal presentations, an art exhibition, an art performance, the traditional Voices of Eurasia creative marathon, screenings of seven films and panel discussions with their directors, the Blue Diamonds of Eurasia assembly and other key events.

After the opening ceremony the delegates returned to the premises of the “House by the Lake” and “Park Hotel Kokshetau” hotels, where most of the speakers’ performances took place during the festival and which became a kind of creative centre for the festival period.

The main event of the competition programme, the Eurasia Voices Marathon, took place on 27 September at the House by the Lake Hotel. The event was moderated by Anna Lari, Director of the Festival Department and co-founder of ECG. Each delegate introduced themselves and shared their creative products with their colleagues, who evaluated the performances and works of the participants, adding fractions of a point, which was decisive for some participants.

After the marathon, the festival participants moved to the creative residence of ECG HORIZONS Burabay, where the flags of Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Israel and, for the first time, Armenia were ceremoniously raised (the tradition of raising the flags of the participating countries was established last year, when the flags of Russia, Belarus, Wales and the personal flag of Hélène Corot were also raised). The flag raising ceremony was followed by the unveiling of a new plaque on the Wall of Remembrance in the Residence, which is dedicated to the memory of Guild members who have passed away or who have had a strong influence on their work. This year, the ECG Executive Committee unveiled a plaque in memory of the Guild Guardian who passed away last year – a beautiful young woman and writer, Torgyn Zholdasbekkyzyzy.

Baktygul Makhanbetova, a literary agent, gave a speech in her memory that moved everyone present to tears.

The busiest and most active day of the festival was 28 September, when three events took place simultaneously in the morning. The hospitable auditorium of the Shchuchinsk Higher Pedagogical College became a platform for the screening of festival films and panel discussions with their directors. The moderator was Timur Akhmedjanov, a film director and illustrator from the UK. The audience had the opportunity to interact with British directors Sohail Loun and Kerry-Anne Kendall, as well as with the winner of the Eurasian Film Festival in London, Kazakh director Zhorabek Mussabayev.

Hotel “House by the Lake” gathered at the round table participants of Discovery Travel Forum, experts in tourism and creative industries from Poland, the UK, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and the USA – the discussion on the problems of tourism development in the Burabay region and presentations of experts from Kyrgyzstan, Marina Bashmanova and from the USA. Andrew Wachtel did not leave without making a lasting impression, stressing the impact of the meeting on rethinking key aspects of doing business.

The highlight and the most awaited event were undoubtedly the award ceremony of the festival and competition “Voices of Friends: Poetry & Art” festival and competition “XII Open Eurasia: Super Cup 2023”, which this year was held in a unique format: the best of the best – finalists from previous years – competed for the first places.

The awards were not just for the winners of the competition. Medals were also awarded for the contributions of the delegates. For example, Azim Akmatov, son of the Kyrgyz classic Kazat Akmatov, presented medals donated by Askar Aitmatov, son of Chingiz Aitmatov, a legend of the Eurasian and Kyrgyz literary world. The medal was created in honour of the 95th anniversary of the writer’s birth. Medals and certificates named after Barbara Jurkowska-Nawrocka were presented by Adam Semenczyk, head of the Polish-British organisation Poezja London.

Zhangeldy Meiramuly Tulegenov, Deputy Akim of Burabai District, gave a welcome speech to the festival participants.During the ceremony, Svetlana Yudina and Saltanat Khamzeyeva were honoured as members of the ECG’s highest governing body, the Guardian Council, and Kuralay Avutova, founder and author of the Inspire women’s education programme, was elevated to the rank of Ambassador. The gala evening concluded with a musical lounge by Warren Wills.

The next day, 29th September, foreign guests were able to immerse themselves in Kazakh national colours. On the premises of the ECG HORIZONS residence, there was a presentation of the world of Kazakh literature moderated by Baktygul Makhanbetova, a presentation of the public organisation “Novis” and the creative community of the Burabai region. Then a real holiday awaited the guests: a member of the Guardian Council from Israel, Alexander Kazarnovsky, immersed all present in an incredible atmosphere of celebrating the Jubilee of the future – the Jewish national tradition of Sukkot. In the evening, the guests were welcomed by a gala concert, where they were inspired by journalist, singer and producer Marina Bashmanova (Kyrgyzstan), composer Warren Wills (Australia) and the vocal-choreographic ensemble “Zvonnitsa-Naslediye” (Petropavlovsk).

The second international film festival BISFF ended on 30 September. The festival ended with a screening of Heavenly Team by Belarusian director Vladimir Alenikov at the Wyndham Garden Burabay Hotel, the festival’s partner in the village of Burabay. The audience enjoyed not only the film but also the new location. The winner of the Cannes Film Festival, the living legend of Polish cinema Krzysztof Pius Zanussi and the British director Ovidio Salazar, a jury member of many international festivals, sent their greetings to the audience.

The opening of the mural on the memorial wall of the ECG HORIZONS residence (Burabay) by the British Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Casey Leach, was a beautiful final chord that summed up the whole festival. The Ambassador noted the importance of such events and wished the participants further success. The mural was created during the festival by wonderful British artists Natalie Bays, Charlotte Trower, Kerry-Anne Kendall and Hannah Davies. As Natalie Bays, head of the delegation and director of the NGO NO Collective, pointed out during the presentation, the idea behind the mural was to demonstrate the unifying power of Eurasia. For example, tea with milk is both a very British and a very Central Asian drink, the tea set is decorated with national patterns of different countries, and the night sky is placed behind the composition. “Wherever we are, let us remember that we are all looking up at the same stars,” she concluded. Everyone at the ceremony, including the Ambassador, left their “star” in the night sky of the mural.

ECG would like to thank the general partners of the festival: Rixos Borovoe, House by the Lake, Wyndham Garden Burabay, Park Hotel Kokshetau, Park House Kokshetau and the Higher Pedagogical College of Shchuchinsk. Special thanks to the team of volunteers from the Shchuchinsk and Burabay settlements and the Central Asian Book Publishing House.

THE WINNERS OF THE CONTEST “XII OPEN EURASIA: SUPER CUP 2023”: THE WINNERS OF THE PROSE CATEGORY ARE
1st place – Lusine Aleksanyan (Armenia)
2nd place – Murat Uali (Kazakhstan)
3rd place – Sergey Listvin (Lithuania) and
Olga Shpakovich (Russia).

IN THE CATEGORY “SHORT PROSE”
THE WINNERS WERE
1st place – Nurlan Toksanov (Kazakhstan)
2nd place – Nina Yagolnitzer (Israel)
3rd place – Rimma Ulchina (Israel).

IN THE “NON-FICTION” CATEGORY,
THE WINNERS WERE
1st place – Marsel Salimov (Russia)
2nd place – Ludmila Voevodina (Lithuania)
3rd place – Irina Sapir (Israel).

IN THE CATEGORY “CHILDREN’S PROSE”
THE WINNERS WERE
1st prize – Marina Alyasova (Kazakhstan)
2nd place – Lyubov Mosley (USA)
and Afsana Lachin (Azerbaijan).
3rd place – Vitaly Lozovich (Russia).

IN THE CATEGORY “TRANSLATION”
THE WINNERS WERE
1st prize – Bakhtygul Makhanbetova (Kazakhstan)
2nd place – Oleg Kunitsky (Belarus)
3rd place – Esenzhan Abubakirov (Kyrgyzstan).

THE WINNERS OF THE COMPETITION
“VOICES OF FRIENDS: POETRY & ART”
IN THE “POETRY” CATEGORY:
1st place – Andrey Grodzinsky (Uzbekistan)
2nd place – Elena Makarova (Uzbekistan)
3rd place – Alexander Kazarnovsky (Israel)
and Gennady Gorovoy (Israel).

WINNERS IN THE “PAINTING” CATEGORY:
1st place – Sergey Babyakov (Kazakhstan)
2nd place – Anastasia Kalinovskaya (Russia)
3rd place – Raisa Belenkaya (Great Britain)
and Larisa Pak (Kyrgyzstan).

WINNERS OF THE “ILLUSTRATION” CATEGORY:
1st place – Andrey Gurgish (Kazakhstan)
2nd place – Oksana Gordiyko (Ukraine)
3rd place – Anton Farutin (Russia)

WINNERS IN THE “PHOTOGRAPHY” CATEGORY:
1st place – Maria Muchinskaya (Belarus)
2nd place – Tatiana Ivanova (Bulgaria)
3rd place – Maria Priznyakova (Russia)

THE MEDALS OF THE ISSYK-KUL FORUM
CHINGIZ AITMATOV FOUNDATION WERE AWARDED TO:
Theatre producer and composer Warren Wills
(Australia),
Journalist and writer Kuchkar Narkabilov
(Uzbekistan),
Artist and social activist Natalie Bayes
(United Kingdom).

THE BARBARA JURKOWSKA-NAWROCKA
MEDALS WERE AWARDED TO:
Elena Bezrukova (Kazakhstan)
Mikhail Kunitsky (Belarus)
Lenar Shayekh (Russia – Republic of Tatarstan)
Raza Syed (Great Britain)
Daria Belkina (Kazakhstan)
Klara Kabylgazina (Kazakhstan)
Paulina Gable – Kravts (Israel)
Saltanat Khamzeyeva (Kazakhstan)
Shamsiya Zhubatova (Kazakhstan)
Munaidar Balmolda (Kazakhstan)
Andrey Grodzinsky (Uzbekistan)
Anna Lari (United Kingdom)
Temirbek Joldobaev (Kyrgyzstan)
Natalia Korshun (Russia)
Marsel Salimov (Russia – Republic of Bashkortostan)
Lara Prodan (USA)
Olga Egorova (Russia)
Dilorom Nishanova (USA)
Aijarkyn Kozhabekova (Kyrgyzstan)
Asel Ayapova (Kyrgyzstan)
Vlada Vityazeva (Georgia)
Indira Laktaeva (USA)
Marina Bashmanova (Kyrgyzstan)
Bayangaly Alimzhanov (Kazakhstan)

BARBARA JURKOWSKA-NAWROCKA
CERTIFICATES WERE AWARDED TO:
Tigran Afyan
Marat Akhmedjanov
Sanzhar Dusenov