schmidtFilm in Kazakhstan

schmidtFilm reports for the MDR regional broadcasting centre in Thuringia from Almaty in Kazakhstan on the conclusion of the German-Kazakh Year. The occasion: on 24 December the Meiningen theatre director Ansgar Haag and the Meiningen stage director Kerstin Jacobsen will bring Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” to the stage. In the country’s largest opera house, Wagner will be heard on Kazakh soil for the first time.

Kazakhstan is the star among the emerging economies. By far the richest republic in Central Asia. A country as large as Western Europe. Where in a single day you can experience all four seasons, from the eternal ice of the Kazakh mountains to the endless expanses of parched steppe. Beneath which lie some of the world’s most significant oil deposits. Since the end of the Cold War, Kazakhstan has been seeking trading partners in Western Europe. With success. More and more companies are investing in the country’s economy. Oil and gas exports are booming. Annual economic growth: 10 per cent.

Germany is the country’s largest European import partner. Kazakhstan now wants to intensify its ties with Germany. And in doing so it is relying not only on cooperation in business and politics, but on a field that has so far been completely left behind: culture.

schmidtFilm looks at how that works on the ground.