Ruslan Akun

Ruslan Akun is a filmmaker from Kyrgyz Republic, Central Asia. He studied at American University - Central Asia and continued his education as a director/cinematographer at School of Cinematic Arts, USC, Los Angeles. He is one of the most successful young film directors of Kyrgyz Republic. Ruslan's short film "Herding" has been awarded and officially selected to more than 50 prestigious film festivals worldwide including Clermont-Ferrand, San Paolo, Brussels, Interfilm Berlin, Cottbus, Stockholm International Film Festivals etc. His second independent film "Hello, New York" with a total budget of less than $100K became the biggest box office hit in a history of Kyrgyz Republic. The film won Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Editing awards at Kyrgyz National Cinema Award. With his Hello, New York Ruslan set a benchmark for Kyrgyzstan's film industry. In 2010-11, he wrote a script of 10 stories, and took his Canon T2i and filmed all his friends (not actors at all). They helped him with locations, prop, funding, etc. The movie came out about 110 minutes long and was about Bishkek. Friends also negotiated the theatre release and the film "Bishkek, I love you!" became a hit right away. Ruslan Akun has directed and wrote a number of short films, educational films for children and produced several successful TV shows on public national TV channel of Kyrgyzstan. According to the major Kyrgyzstani magazines OneMag, Bishkekchanka and October he was ranked #1 director of 2013.