Tuva Anniversary

“A film essay on the 15th anniversary of Tuva”

A rare Soviet ethnographic chronicle capturing the 15th-anniversary celebrations of the Tuvan People's Republic in 1936. Directed by Boris Nebylitsky, the film documents Tuva at a historical crossroads, contrasting traditional nomadic life, Buddhist clergy, and shamanic rituals with early modernization. The footage holds immense cultural value, preserving vivid scenes of the Naadym festival, horse racing, and Khuresh wrestling with its ritualistic "eagle dance"—all captured just years before the devastating state repressions of the late 1930s.