Photo: Chinanews.com

A documentary reflecting daily stories and economic development in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has attracted audiences' attention as it won Best Film Award at the 2023 NEWSKY WORD International Media Awards in Kazakhstan announced on Friday.

The documentary The Kazakhs in China's Xinjiang produced and broadcast by Kazakhstan's TURAN TV station stood out from 350 shortlisted works and won the Best Film Award, one of the six awards of NEWSKY WORD.

The documentary is 42 minutes long and was jointly planned and filmed by China and Kazakhstan. The documentary tells the daily stories of nearly 10 people living in Xinjiang's Yili, objectively presenting the economic and social development and the living conditions of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

Martina Ashlova, the program producer of TURAN TV station, told the China News Service that "this is the only award that makes me feel the highest sense of honor among all the awards I have won over the years. After its broadcast, I hope that more and more Kazakhs will want to come to China, especially to Xinjiang."

As the representative of the Best Film Award, Ashlova believes that the documentary's broadcasting, will open a window for the audiences of Russian-speaking countries to understand China as well as Xinjiang.

The NEWSKY WORD International Media Awards have been held for three consecutive years. The award advocates the values of humanism, good-neighborliness and harmonious coexistence, and solicits excellence from media reporters and social network bloggers from Kazakhstan and other countries.

More than 4,500 works were collected this time, and the 350 shortlisted works came from Kazakhstan, Italy, France, Turkey, Canada, Spain, China and other countries.

In May, the filming crew visited places such as Horgos and Yining, and post-production was completed and presented in Russian with Russian subtitles.

the Horgos International Border Cooperation Center is located at the junction of China and Kazakhstan, and is built across the border. It covers a total area of 5.6 square kilometers, of which the Chinese area is 3.43 square kilometers and the Kazakh area is 2.17 square kilometers. It forms a commercial, touristic and shopping area.

Roman Botabekov, the director of Kazakhstan's TURAN TV station, has been paying attention to the changes and development of the Center.

"This place has developed from a barren land to a modern area, especially the Chinese Culture Pavilion, which offered lots of surprises," said Botabekov, who looked forward to the Center becoming a highland for cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The only TV channel in Kazakhstan that specializes in introducing travel, adventure and lifestyle, TURAN TV programs are broadcast in the form of reality shows, showing touristic resources and cultural features around the world around the clock. In 2024, the station said that it will continue to produce a series of video programs about Xinjiang.

Global Times