The Parmi Kirghiz have been on a gruelling journey over the last hundred years. A tribe of some 2,000 people now settled in Eastern Turkey, they began the 20th cent­ury in the remote Pamir region of Central Asia before becoming wandering exiles, fleeing from the tyranny of the Russian Commun­ists to China, then from the Chinese Maoists to Afghanistan, and, follow­ing the Soviet invasion, to their current Turkish home. Ben Hopkins enlisted the help of the Pamir Kirghiz, particularly that of Ekbar Kutlu, whose knowledge helped recreate scenes from their past, to tell their own story. The point, says Hopkins, wasn’t to make a film “about the Pamir Kirghiz, but with the Pamir Kirghiz.” So, the end result is far quirkier than your average National Geographic piece, a multi-layered potted hist­ory blending interviews, ethno­graphic descriptions, historical reconstruct­ions acted out by the very descendents of those who were involved in them, and a comic look at the difficulties of making the film itself.

In the end, it’s the insights into the day-to-day lives and cultural traditions of the Pamir that make 37 Uses such fun; their earthy humour and pleasure in life, and their hatred of killjoy Commun­ists, are infectious, and the many, many things they can do with a dead sheep hugely impressive. The scene in which one charming old gentleman enthusiastically enumerates and lovingly describes some of the varied dairy products – qurut, kurtap, susme, kaymak, byshtaq – derived from sheep’s milk is as inspiring a lesson in human invent­iveness as any I’ve seen.


Available from www.tigerlilyfilms.com