Rashid Nugmanov
Biography
Rashid Nugmanov is a Kazakh film director, dissident, and political activist who founded the Kazakh New Wave cinema movement. His breakthrough film, The Needle (1988), won critical acclaim for tackling drug addiction in Soviet Russia and became a box office hit viewed by over 30 million people. Nugmanov also directed The Wild East (1990), a post-apocalyptic punk samurai Ostern that attracted international acclaim at several film festivals. He currently serves as General Director of the International Freedom Network.