Akhtem Seitablayev

Akhtem Shevketovych Seitablaiev[1][lower-alpha 1] (born 11 December 1972) is a Crimean Tatar actor, screenwriter and film director based in Ukraine. He is the director of several high-profile films, including Haytarma in 2013 and Another's Prayer in 2017. He has expressed opposition to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and his films about the fate of several prominent Crimean Tatars have been praised throughout the former Soviet Union but criticized by hardline Russian nationalists.

Akhtem Seitablaiev
Ahtem Şevket oğlu Seit-Abla
Born
Akhtem Shevketovych Seitablaiev

(1972-12-11) 11 December 1972
Yangiyo‘l, Uzbek SSR
Occupationfilm director
actor
Years active1999 – present
Notable work
Haytarma (2013)
Cyborgs (2017)
The Rising Hawk (2019)
Spouse(s)
  • Ivanna Diadiura
    ​
    (m. 2013)​
Children3[1]

Early life

Seitablaiev was born in 1972 in Yangiyo‘l, then part of the Uzbek SSR. His parents were deported to Uzbekistan in the Sürgün since Crimean Tatars were one of the numerous ethnic groups to experience en-mass exile in the Stalin era. He attended school in Uzbekistan and remained in there with his family until they moved back to Crimea during the Perestroika era in 1989, where he began his film career in 1992 after graduating from the Crimean Cultural Enlightenment School.[2][3][4]

Career

From 1992 to 2004 he worked at the Simferopol State Crimean Tatar Theater, where he directed several plays including works of Alexander Pushkin. In 2005 he began working at the Kyiv Academic Theatre of Drama and Comedy on the left-bank of Dnieper. In 2009 he directed his first film, Quartet for Two. In 2013 he directed the movie Haytarma (English: Return) based on the real life of Amet-khan Sultan, a Crimean Tatar flying ace and twice Hero of the Soviet Union who witnessed the Sürgün but managed to avoid deportation due to his father's Lak ancestry and the intervention of Timofey Khryukin, commander of the 8th Air Army. The film was praised by the Kyiv Post as "must-see for history enthusiasts" and criticized by Komsomolskaya Pravda for depicting the NKVD officers doing the deportation as violent while portraying the deported women and children in a much more sympathetic light.[5][6]

Russian consul in Crimea Vladimir Andreev said the film was "distorting the truth", and attacked the movie for being made by Crimean Tatars, who he said deserved to be deported, but he admitted that he did not actually watch the film, and based his opinion that the movie was inaccurate only because it was made by Crimean Tatars. However, Andreev's orders telling Russians invited to the film to not attend resulted in several Russian generals invited to the premiere cancelling, though some still saw it. Andreev's comments sparked a huge backlash that led to his resignation, while Seitablaiev jokingly thanked Andreev for giving the movie free advertising.[5][7][8]

In 2015, Seitablaiev's family and film were featured in an Unreported World documentary about the Russian annexation of Crimea.[9]

From 2016 to 2017 he directed Another's Prayer, based on the real life of Saide Arifova, a kindergarten director who saved over 80 Jewish children during the Holocaust by switching their ethnicity listing and teaching them to imitate Crimean Tatar customs and language to hide them from the Gestapo. Eventually the Nazis suspected she was involved in hiding Jewish children and tortured her, but she refused to betray any names. After the Red Army retook control of Crimea she saved them again by explaining to the NKVD that the children were Jewish, not Crimean Tatar, and hence were allowed to stay in Crimea instead of being deported to the desert. The film debuted on 18 May 2017, the anniversary of the Sürgün. Originally the film was supposed to be filmed in Crimea, but after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 it was decided that the filming would be done in mainland Ukraine and Georgia.[10]

Personal life

On 29 May 2018, he released a statement in support of Oleg Sentsov, a film director arrested in Russian-controlled Crimea. He is married to actress Ivanna Diadiura, and has three children.[4][11] His daughter Nazly is an actress, dancer, and model who also had a role in Haytarma.[9]

Awards
  • Order "For Merits" III class - for significant personal contribution to state building, socio-economic, scientific and technical, cultural and educational development of Ukraine, significant labor achievements and high professionalism (August 24, 2017)
  • Laureate of the State Prize of Crimea - for the role of Macbeth in the play "McDuff" ("McDuff" - the name of Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" in the Crimean Tatar version).
  • Winner of the Kyiv Pectoral Theater Award for the role of Romeo in the play Romeo and Juliet.
  • Nariman Aliyev's Ukrainian film "Home" was recognized as the best foreign film 7th International Bosphorus Film Festival, and Akhtem Seitablaev, who starred in the film, received the award for best male role.
  • Winner of the Vasyl Stus Prize 2020.

Filmography

Actor
Actor works
Year Film Role
2003 Mamay Middle brother Umay
2004 Moskovskaya saga (episode)
Tatarskiy triptikh Stambulskiy Sokhti / Rustem
2005 Muhtar's return-2 Safiullin
Zoloti khloptsi (episode)
Navizhena Security guy of parking lot
2006 Bohdan-Zynoviy Khmelnytskyi
Muhtar's return-3 Timur Khazov
Zhinocha robota z ryzykom dlia zhyttia Artem Polonskyi
2007 Zhaha ekstrymu Nikita
2008 Prityazhenie Arkadiy (son of Aleksandr Nikolayevich)
2009 Osinni kvity Meshochnik in a train
2011 Temni vody (episode)
2012 Actor, or the Love not after playwright (not finished)
2012 Svaty-6 Murat Vladlenovych (owner of Bukovel)
2012 Haytarma Amet-khan Sultan
2015 Hvardiya Tatar
Tsentralna likarnya Rustam Agalarov
2016 Ya z toboyu Andriy
Den nezalezhnosti. Vasyl Stus Vasyl Stus
Skhidni solodoshchi Ibrahim
Na liniyi zhyttia Serhiy Zadorozhnyi
2017 Pravylo boyu Person in black
2017 Chuzhaya molitva
2018 Spisok zhelaniy Leonid Kaufman (mayor)

Notes
  1. Ukrainian: Сеітаблаєв Ахтем Шевкетович; Crimean Tatar: Ahtem Şevket oğlu Seit-Abla

References
  1. "Seitablaiev Akhtem Shevketovych". pep.org.ua. Public register of politically exposed persons of Ukraine. 28 October 2020. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021.
  2. "Ахтем Сеитаблаев". Кино-Театр.РУ. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  3. "Ахтем Сейтаблаев". Актеры - Биографии актеров - Фото актеров на Lifeactor.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  4. "Ахтем Сеитаблаев: В дни рождения детей я не работаю" (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  5. Sapozhnikova, Galina (2013-06-18). "Почему правда о войне до сих пор ссорит нас с крымскими татарами?". Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  6. Grytsenko, Oksana (2013-07-08). "'Haytarma', the first Crimean Tatar movie, is a must-see for history enthusiasts - Jul. 08, 2013". KyivPost. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  7. Izmirli, Idil (16 June 2013). "Russian consul general to Crimea resigns following offensive comments" (PDF). The Ukrainian Weekly: 2.
  8. Kharchenko, Tetyana (22 July 2013). "Режиссер "Хайтармы": Я благодарен генконсулу России за неимоверный пиар нашей картины". Українська правда. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  9. Theroux, Marcel (2015-05-15). "Miss Crimea". Unreported World. Season 29. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  10. "В Киеве состоялась премьера фильма Ахтема Сейтаблаева "Чужая молитва"". ukrinform.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  11. "Олег – отец, как и вы, – Сеитаблаев просит Трампа помочь освободить Сенцова - 24 Канал". 24 Канал. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
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