According to him, he has recently noticed advertising materials for tobacco products in three new films.
“The films openly show packs of cigarettes with advertisements, for example, ‘Winston’ with a double capsule. I raised this issue three years ago, but no measures have been taken. Concern for the health of Kyrgyzstanis seems to be of no interest to anyone. I don’t know what to do about this situation anymore. If the problem is not resolved, I may have to go to court. We are talking about the health of the nation, and the law prohibits the advertisement of tobacco and alcohol in cinema. It is unclear why we have to see all this. The Ministry of Culture has no moral right to justify itself. I am sure that someone in the agency is profiting from this. We should not be creating films with money from tobacco companies. We can do without such films,” said Kokulov.
In turn, representatives of the Cinematography Department of the Ministry of Culture reported that licenses for film production are issued by the organization “Kyrgyztasma.”
The head of the department, Talant Tolobekov, added that work is currently underway to liquidate “Kyrgyztasma” in accordance with the findings of a special commission.
Deputy Minister of Culture Marat Tagaev noted that the process of reforming the film industry is ongoing.
“We will take your suggestions into account. Work is being done to provide foreign films with Kyrgyz subtitles. Soon we will present amendments to the legislation to parliament. We expect there will be opponents, so we need the support of the deputies,” he added.
