Documentary about Jochi Khan set to be screened in Kazakhstan

The documentary made by well-known journalist and producer Maiya Bekbayeva and with the support of the TV and Radio Complex of the Kazakh President immerses viewers in the era of Jochi Khan – the founder of the Golden Horde, elder son of Genghis Khan.

Maiya Bekbayeva, who acted as the film’s general producer and scriptwriter, said that the shooting took place in August last year and took about a month. ‘Scriptwriting took over half a year, as a deeper dive into the topic and numerous consultations with historians were needed,’ she said.

The Kazakhstani journalist said that the idea of creating a film came to her last year after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had announced to hold events marking 800 years since the establishment of the Golden Horde during the National Qurultay.

It’s a new format - not quite a feature film, but a documentary-feature project, journalistic author's project, which includes artistic production scenes, said Bekbayeva, hoping that people will enjoy such a format.

While making the film, the team sought advice from famed turkologist Timur Kozyrev, thanks to which some dialogues were written in Turkic and Mongolian dialects. Some film lines remained intact, with Russian dubbing and Kazakh subtitles added.

The film stars young actor Shyngys Beibituly as Jochi Khan and Bolat Uzkaov as Genghis Khan.

Bekbayeva said that the film is kind of the lead-up to the international historic TV series titled The Golden Empire set to be on Netflix within a year.