Short films of 41 crews from Uzbekistan were shown as part of the national screening of the 48 Hour Film Race festival. The event, organized by Go Viral, a platform for innovators from Central Asia, took place at the Tashkent gallery 139 Documentary Center.

48HFR has been around since 2015. Everyone from the five countries of Central Asia can present their work at the festival, regardless of experience and the presence of a film crew. This year 329 teams took part in the festival. Most of the works - 190 - were presented by Kazakhstan.

According to the rules, entry fills must be shoot, edited and sent in 48 hours. It is allowed to write a script and music in advance, prepare costumes and a film set. At the same time, each film must contain three elements of a creative task - a phrase, an object and a character - which participants can familiarize themselves with immediately before the start of the 48-hour race.

This year, the pictures were supposed to include the phrase "That's not all", a bridge, and a clown. In the genres of comedy, horror, fantasy and melodrama, teams from Uzbekistan reflected various social problems.

“We had several ideas, but none of them came in handy. As soon as the creative task came out, the team caught fire with a new and completely different idea, ”said Sardor, editor of the If I team, about the idea for the film “Trace”.

The picture tells how events and people leave an invisible trace in a person's life, how they can affect a person, and how important it is to talk about problems and not to hush them up.

In the movie The Clown, the Sirius team shows the consequences of a careless attitude to the use of water. The works "Zulfiya" and "Silence" tell about domestic violence, "Urush" ("War") - about military conflicts in the world, the victims of which are thousands of people.

Among other distinguished works, the film "Imzo" ("Signature") and "Candidate". The first tells about an official who, for a bribe, closed his eyes to the theft during the construction of the bridge. The structure was put into operation, but later it collapsed and caused 20 deaths. The latter is about the path of a politician, which makes false promises and lofty speeches.

The creators of the short film Haqiqat TV (Truth TV) told the story of a young journalist who came to television to fight for justice, but was forced to lie under the threat of dismissal.

The Tea Club team in the film "You'll never know what it's like to be a guy" presented a matriarchal Uzbek society in which men face harassment.

“We wanted to speak out, to show that “catcalling” (rude statements, whistling, smacking, greasy compliments and other forms of pestering a woman in a public space - ed.) is terrible, although it is perceived by society as normal. It was important for us that the picture does not turn into a social video and remains a film. Therefore, we decided to shoot such a “reflex camera”, as in “Barbie”, when men are faced with the problems of women. Our girls are always tense and expect the worst, they don’t feel safe, ”says director Camilla.

The final country screening of the competition will take place on August 31 in Astana. The 48HFR selection committee, which includes the founder of the international animation festival TIAF Dante Rustav, film critic Alexandra Porshneva and directors Adilet Karzhoev, Sharofat Arabova and Batyr Berdiev, will select 48 best films. The works of the finalists will be shown at the final screening in September in Almaty and cinemas in New York. During the event, the jury will name the winners of 11 nominations. The winner of the main nomination - "Best Film" - will win a trip to New York.

In 2021, director Shokir Kholikov from Uzbekistan won the main nomination. His film "Messi" about the unfulfilled dreams of a boy and his father became the best picture of the year.

According to the Ambassador of the GoViral project in Uzbekistan, Elina Abdullayeva, in previous years, the work of Uzbek directors also became the best in the nominations “student film” (picture “Guest worker” by the Timur_Maruf team), “amateur film” (“One day” by the team “Three from Focus, not counting the operator") and others.

According to the rules of the competition, the winners of all 11 nominations receive a scholarship for online education at the New York Film Academy. However, according to the director of One Day, Abdurashid Yakubov, the team has not yet passed the online course.

“But we still participated this time and will participate in the future, because such festivals unite participants and spectators,” says Abdurashid Yakubov.