Dinara Asanova

Dinara Kuldashevna Asanova (; 24 October 1942 – 4 April 1985) was a Kyrgyzstani-Soviet film director and one of the most notable and acclaimed female filmmakers of the late Soviet Union. She is best known for her films Woodpeckers Don't Get Headaches and Tough Kids or Boys (Patsany) (1983). Although she was not very well known in the West, Asanova was popular in the USSR. Her career spans over 25 years, ending with her death at the age of 42 due to a heart ailment. Between the years 1969 and 1984, Asanova made ten films. Her films often dealt with the subject of troubled adolescence and incorporated critiques on Soviet society.

Career Dinara Asanova was born in Bishkek (formally Frunze), Kyrgyzstan, on 24 October 1942. After graduating high school in 1959, Asanova began her film career as an assistant director, cutter and actress at the Kyrgyzfilm studio from 1960-1962. During her time at the studio, she worked with Larisa Shepitko on her 1963 film Heat (Znoi). Asanova then began studying at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography or VGIK, a Soviet state film school in Moscow. She studied alongside Mikhail Romm and Aleksandr Stolper, two other famous Soviet directors. Asanova graduated from the university in 1969 and later moved to Leningrad in 1974 to begin working at the Lenfilm Studio. At the studio, Asanova made her first feature film The Woodpecker Doesn’t Get Headaches (1975) which helped establish her position in Soviet Cinema. Asanova would go on to make 8 other films with the studio. Boys (1983) was her most famous work and biggest box office hit - for the film she received the USSR State Film Prize.

The Woodpecker Doesn’t Get Headaches (1975) Woodpeckers Don't Get Headaches (Ne bolit golova u dyatla) was Dinara Asanova’s first feature film. It was the first film she made when she began working at Lenfilm Studio in Leningrad and it resulted in her gaining a name for herself in Soviet Cinema. It also established the style and common narrative themes depicted in all of Asanova’s films. It is about the difficulties of first love and life long choices of youngsters.

Tough Kids or Boys (1983) Boys (Patsany) was Dinara’s Asanova’s most commercially successful film. It was made near the end of her career while she worked at Lenfilm Studio and continued the trend of troubled adolescence as the main subject of Asanova’s films. Asanova is a prominent filmmaker that represents the artists during this period. She was often outspoken on her critiques of Soviet society, particularly on issues of sexuality, gender and everyday Soviet life. Three documentaries were made about her after she died, the first being I Love You All Very Much (1987), the second being Dinara (1988) and the third being Dinara Asanova (2003).