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Abstract

In recent years, Kazakh cinema has witnessed a significant rise of female figures – both directors and producers – within the realms of independent art-house and mainstream popular cinema. This study aims to analyze how the aesthetic choices of female directors transform the traditional representation of women prevalent in masculine cinematic language.

Contrasting the approaches of their predecessors, female filmmakers move beyond portraying the female image as a static object, instead reconstructing it as a multi-layered and authentic subject on both social and individual levels. This transformation is not limited to the creative process behind the camera; the increasing presence of female producers (entrepreneurs) in the industry provides an institutional framework for the audibility of the “female voice.”

Within the scope of this presentation, the representation of female characters, their relationship with gender roles, and the ways in which cinema resonates as a “public sphere” for the female voice will be examined through selected films by directors and producers such as Sharipa Urazbayeva, Zhannat Alshanova, and Bayan Maksatkyzy. In this context, the transformative role of Kazakh female filmmakers' aesthetic and industrial initiatives in reshaping the national cinematic identity will be discussed.