The Oguzhan Turkmenfilm Association is actively preparing for the international film festival "Korkut Ata," which will take place in Turkmenistan in early November. The "Korkut Ata" Turkic World Film Festival aims to strengthen and preserve human values for future generations, ensuring the perception of the concept of goodness in today's life through ideas, stories, narratives, tales and teachings passed down from the past to the present, from generation to generation.
In this regard, one of the film projects for the festival is of particular interest, with work on it nearing completion these days. It is a feature film by Turkmen director Myrat Orazov, whose literary basis is the fifth tale-poem of the ancient Oguz epic known among Turkmens as "Korkut Ata." According to experts, this epic is the result of a long development of oral folk poetry and, in terms of its ideological-thematic and artistic richness and linguistic features, goes far beyond the literary works of the Turkic world. It contains valuable historical information about the lifestyle of the ancient Oguz people—the ancestors of Turkmens and other Turkic peoples—their culture, customs, traditions and spiritual world.
The film's script is based on the poem about the brave Domrul ("Däli Domrul"), who believed that there was no one equal to him in strength and even dared to fight Azrael, the angel of death, so that he would no longer deprive young people of life. God did not like Domrul's reckless audacity and ordered Azrael to take the hero's life. In response to Domrul's plea for mercy, Azrael replied that he was merely a messenger of Almighty God, who gives and takes life.
When Domrul promised to perform many good deeds, God ordered Azrael to spare him but demanded someone else's life in return. Domrul's parents refused to sacrifice themselves for their son, but only his young wife was willing to give her soul for him because she could not imagine her life without her beloved and the father of her children. However, touched by her devotion, God did not take her soul and gave the faithful couple 140 years of life each.
The film also recreates the image of the legendary Korkut Ata himself, who has been preserved in the historical memory of the Turkmen people as a wise storyteller and keeper of knowledge, customs, and traditions that allow people to maintain their national identity. As is known, his statue is installed among monuments to heroes of national history at the Independence Monument of Turkmenistan.
