Silk Road House: A Cultural and Educational Center   Welcome! Silk Road House is a non-profit organization created to promote and support an impressive array of diverse ethnic cultural traditions. The main goals of the Silk Road House are: to create a center for the collection of pertinent cultural and historical information to provide a place where creative activities can bring to life the traditions of the Silk Road here in United States to celebrate the Silk Road's tradition of hospitality Silk Road House symbolizes the connections, communications and bonds between peoples and cultures united by the Silk Road concept, and at the same time, a real network of the modern day contacts between those peoples and cultures. The Silk Road House is a welcoming cultural center where everyone who might be interested could find a wide range of accurate information concerning the history, culture, and everyday life of Silk Road countries.   A word of appreciation...   Our special and deepest thanks go to those who have made an array of donations to Silk Road House – by money, various things, books, time, skill or all these together... Among these generous individuals are (in alphabetical order): Ruth Abrass Navruz Avloni Shirchin Baatar Hanna Bailey Elena Balashova Alexander Bapa Natalie Bondar Kathleen Braunstein Genrietta Bykin Maria Bykin JoAnn Conrad Dieter Christensen Wayne Eastep Patrick Hayes David Hooson Karen Folger Jacobs Anait Khudanazarova Jack Kollmann Robert E. Lee Cariadne Margaret Mackenzie Semion and Ludmila Mirkin Scott Morgan Aiman and Mairbek Mussipov Elmira and Werdana Mussipov Zhanara Nauryzbaeva Karen Nelsen Joan E. Norvelle Beket Nurzhanov James O.Bailey Akin Orhun Skydrite Rubene Vadim Ryvkin Ernar Sagatov Turburam Sandagdorj Martin Schwartz Chris and Steve Shaw Zhuldyz and Lloyd Shimabukuro Elizabeth Shedd Tatiana Shubin Omerjan and Aygul Siddik John Sommer Kemal Sonmez Tenzin Tsophel Orna Uranchimeg-Tsultem Bayan Tulegenova Leonid Urjuk Santo K. van Ess Albina Yerzhanova Joanne Yoshimura ...as well as anonymous private donors, the SilkRoad Foundation and the Open Society Institute. Our cordial thanks to all of you! - Board of Directors of Silk Road House

Current Events Silk Road House presents: "Strizh" ("Shorn") – Kazakh film of 2007. This is the debut full-length feature by the young Kazakh director Abai Kulbai. It tells a story about wintry and cold Almaty, and about a teenage girl, Ainur, who is a child of the streets, and we see Almaty through the girl’s eyes, a girl with a world of her own, but who has to live in the world of others. Strizh is an extraordinary film because it explores the life of a generation born into independence: Ainur is a child of the first years of an independent Kazakhstan, a child of a mixed marriage who barely understands Kazakh. The story of a teenage girl looking for her place in the adult world marks a new departure both in the historical development of Kazakh cinema and in the established pattern of films about the formation of a person's relationship with the modern world. The director has this to say, “My film is not for teenagers, and they won't go to see it. My film is aimed at society, at its morals and its attitude to this age group.” The debut filmmaker has thrown down the gauntlet to society. Scriptwriters: Abai Kulbai, Eugénie Zvonkine; Cinematography: Aleksandr Kostylev; Art Director: Aleksei Shindin; Composer: Sergei Pogoreltsev; Producer: Sergei Azimov; Production: Kazakhfilm Cast: Ainur - Inessa Kislova; Asel - Anar Kakenova; Saken - Merlen Kaldybalin; Ainur’s Mother - Lyazzat Aidarova; Stepfather - Bakhytzhan Alpeisov; Father - Maxim Pupisov; Asel’s Mother - Marzhan Kazybaeva. Running Time: 80 minutes. Languages: Kazakh and Russian with English subtitles. The screening will be introduced and commented on by Alma Kunanbaeva. February 11, Saturday, 5-7pm