Jamshed Usmonov

Jamshed Usmonov is one of the leading figures in Tajik cinema and Persian cinema more broadly, and a key director in the history of his country’s independence-era film industry. Usmonov was born in Asht in northern Tajikistan, and studied in Dushanbe as well as in Russia. His career has incorporated producing, writing, and directing documentaries as well as animation and fiction films. Alongside Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov, he was one of the leading figures of perestroika-era and early post-Soviet cinema, but his career was interrupted by the Tajik Civil War between 1992 and 1997. Accordingly, his first feature was not completed until 1998: The Flight of the Bee, which premiered at Cannes. The international recognition for this film and Usmonov’s follow-up, Angel on the Right (2002), made him one of Tajikistan’s most celebrated artists. However, growing censorship at home led to his emigrating to Paris, where he still lives. His other films include To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die (2006) and the French neo-noir My Wife’s Romance (2011). He has also acted in films including Darezhan Omirbaev’s The Road (2001) and Mia Hansen-Løve’s Father of My Children (2009).