Alternativa Film Project Looks to Bolster Impactful Cinema in Central Asia and Beyond, Supporting ‘Fresh Voices’ From Underserved Regions

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Siberian-born entrepreneur Arsen Tomsky is not your typical tech mogul. The CEO of the California-based technology company inDrive got his start far from Silicon Valley, when he designed a ride-hailing app in his native Yakutsk to compete with the cartels that controlled the local taxi industry.

One decade later, Tomsky launched the Alternativa Film Project, a non-profit initiative aimed at supporting emerging filmmakers from under-developed regions, particularly countries struggling with inequality, human rights issues and other societal ills.

The first edition, which wrapped with an award ceremony on Dec. 2 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, cast a spotlight on the cinema of Central Asia, with Tomsky underscoring his hopes that the initiative will become a “nomadic event” that has an impact around the world, “especially in countries where a lot of social injustice exists.” With a focus on the five former Soviet republics of Central Asia, Alternativa Film Project head Liza Surganova said the initiative was looking to address a “huge gap” in knowledge of a region that’s little-known in much of the world, even among devoted cinephiles looking for the next big discovery. “What we are seeing right now is a young and very devoted and very talented generation of filmmakers who have fresh voices, who are not afraid to pick up difficult subjects,” she says.