Tashkent, 27 October. Stage and screen actress Shugyla Yeshen, 24, has received the special Golden Globes Beacon Award and, according to The Village Kazakhstan, is the first representative of Kazakhstan to win it.
The ceremony took place on 23–24 October in Tashkent at the Golden Globes Silk Road Tribute Gala, a new regional programme of the Golden Globes for the cinema of Central Asia and the Caucasus, held for the first time. Three kinds of award were presented: the Meridian for lifetime contribution, the Trailblazer for creative achievement and the Beacon for young talent; the winners came from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Guests included Adrien Brody, Kiera Chaplin and Olga Kurylenko.
Shugyla Yeshen is known for the films "Gashyqpyn sagan", "Qaitadan", "7 Qaraqshy" and "Sheker. The Last Chance". For her role in the last she won the Kazakhstan Film Critics' Choice award for best supporting actress; she also holds prizes from the ALTYN SAQA festival in the categories "Umit" (2025) and "Image in national classics" (2026).
The award for young talent is called the Beacon, and Kazakhstan's first beacon is a 24-year-old actress.
What it means: The Golden Globes held a separate ceremony for Central Asia and the Caucasus for the first time, and a Kazakh actress is among its first winners in the young-talent category.
Who benefits: Kazakh cinema, which gains international recognition for a young actress; Uzbekistan, which hosts the new regional Golden Globes programme; the organisation itself, which enters a new regional market.
Background: The Golden Globes are American film awards presented since 1944 for work in film and television; the regional Silk Road Tribute Gala programme was launched only this year.
