The View from up Here

The View from up Here is a feature-length documentary following director Askhat Kuchinchikerov as he makes his second narrative feature, “Ake,” in the remote Kazakh village of Shybyshy. Documenting both Kuchinchikerov’s organic filmmaking process as well as the traditions and daily life in Shybyshy, The View from up Here offers a counterpoint to the mythology of world-bending productions like Fitzcarraldo and Apocalypse Now and the documentaries that immortalized them. The View from up Here reframes filmmaking as a practice grounded in humility, reciprocity, and observation.

Shybyshy is a place lost in time. A three hour drive east of Almaty, it is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, rivers, steppe and forest. Only in the past few years has it become accessible by anything other than a dirt road. Untouched by years of hyper-industrialization, it remains grounded in ancient Kazakh traditions and ways of being.

Shooting over the course of fifteen months, Kuchinchirekov will film Shybyshy in all four seasons, using the natural changes in the environment to explore the changing nature of Shybyshy over time. For Kuchinchirekov’s filmmaking process is not about the creation and inevitable destruction of a manufactured world, but rather one that seeks to weave the authentic life of a place directly into the fabric of his films. Over 90% of the cast will be non-actors from Shybyshy. Kuchinchirekov’s process allows the vernacular of a place to inform the filmmaking process rather than imposing his own ideas upon it. As Ake will capture the everyday lived reality in the village of Shybyshy, I will capture the everyday lived reality of the crew living in Shybyshy.

Marlon Webster Paine — Director

Marlon Webster Paine is a filmmaker from Los Angeles. He was an associate producer on the narrative feature Goody (2024), a southern gothic coming-of-age story; and is a producer on the in-process documentary Acres of Diamonds, which captures the 125+ year old living tradition of the Fountain Park Chautauqua in Remington, Indiana. Marlon graduated magna cum laude with a degree in creative writing from Columbia University.

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