Janus Films: First Look at New 4K Restoration of The Fall of Otrar
HomeJanus Films: First Look at New 4K Restoration of The Fall of Otrar
Posted July 9, 2025 06:30 PM by Webmaster
Janus Films has provided a promotional trailer for the recent 4K restoration of Ardak Amirkulov's The Fall of Otrar
(1991). A Preliminary release for an upcoming Blu-ray release of it has not yet been revealed.
Also included with this announcement is an exclusive new poster.
Description: Kazakh New Wave director Ardak Amirkulov's The Fall of Otrar is a hypnotic epic about one of world history's crucial military battles.
In the early thirteenth century, Genghis Khan conquered Otrar, a major city in the old Persian kingdom of Khwarazm and a gateway to the West. This victory marked the fearsome warrior's first campaign beyond traditional Mongol territory—and the opening salvo to his near complete domination of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Evoking the dynamic pacing of Akira Kurosawa, and the hallucinatory sensuousness of Tarkovsky (aided by a deft alternation among color, black-and-white, and sepia film stocks), Amirkulov follows the buildup to war through the eyes of Unjukhan (Dokhdurbek Kydyraliyev), an audacious Kipchak soldier who tries to convince Khwarazm's ruler (Tungyshpai Zhamankulov) of Khan's imminent invasion. As a former Mongol scout, Unjukhan well knows Khan's canniness and brutality, but when his pleas are taken for insolence, he must escape imprisonment to stop an escalating diplomatic crisis and to avert a clash of civilizations. With a panoramic scope that covers the intimate details of palace intrigue as well as the merciless sweep of battlefield carnage, The Fall of Otrar is a masterful imagining of the seismic changes of history—and a terrifying, electrifying feast for the senses.
Also included with this announcement is an exclusive new poster.
Description: Kazakh New Wave director Ardak Amirkulov's The Fall of Otrar is a hypnotic epic about one of world history's crucial military battles.
In the early thirteenth century, Genghis Khan conquered Otrar, a major city in the old Persian kingdom of Khwarazm and a gateway to the West. This victory marked the fearsome warrior's first campaign beyond traditional Mongol territory—and the opening salvo to his near complete domination of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Evoking the dynamic pacing of Akira Kurosawa, and the hallucinatory sensuousness of Tarkovsky (aided by a deft alternation among color, black-and-white, and sepia film stocks), Amirkulov follows the buildup to war through the eyes of Unjukhan (Dokhdurbek Kydyraliyev), an audacious Kipchak soldier who tries to convince Khwarazm's ruler (Tungyshpai Zhamankulov) of Khan's imminent invasion. As a former Mongol scout, Unjukhan well knows Khan's canniness and brutality, but when his pleas are taken for insolence, he must escape imprisonment to stop an escalating diplomatic crisis and to avert a clash of civilizations. With a panoramic scope that covers the intimate details of palace intrigue as well as the merciless sweep of battlefield carnage, The Fall of Otrar is a masterful imagining of the seismic changes of history—and a terrifying, electrifying feast for the senses.
