Astana, 18 October. Journalist Zhalgas Yertai has sent a petition to the Ministry of Culture and Information proposing to amend the law "On Cinematography" so that distributors must release foreign films dubbed into Kazakh (BES.media).
The law currently requires films shown in Kazakhstan without Kazakh speech to have a Kazakh version, but this may be dubbing, subtitles or a voice-over; the author of the petition believes such a choice does not allow full viewing (BES.media). Under the proposed amendments, Kazakh dubbing should be available on the day of release, and subtitles and voice-over should not replace it; separate requirements are proposed for limited releases, with time for cinemas and distributors to prepare. The initiative does not propose banning films in other languages (BES.media).
The author cites box-office figures: the animated film Moana 2, dubbed into Kazakh, took more than 151 million tenge in Kazakhstan in 12 days, or 12% of its total takings in the country; according to the same data, Inside Out 2 earned more than 40 million tenge in its first four days (BES.media).
Background: The petition has collected the required 50 signatures and, according to the ePetition.kz portal, is under moderation, which may take up to 20 working days; the initiative was first reported by the Tilkespekjoq Instagram account (BES.media).
List of sources used
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
