| The First Teacher | |
| Director: | Andrei Konchalovsky |
| Starring: | Bolot Beyshenaliyev Natalya Arinbasarova[1] |
| Music: | Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov |
| Cinematography: | Georgy Rerberg |
| Editing: | Eva Ladyzhenskaya |
| Studio: | Mosfilm Kyrgyzfilm |
| Runtime: | 102 minutes |
| Country: | Soviet Union |
| Language: | Russian |
The First Teacher (Russian: Первый учитель|Pervyy uchitel) is a 1965 drama film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. It is his first full-length work, based on the book by Chinghiz Aitmatov.[2]
The action takes place in the years from 1924 all the way to the early 1950s in the Kurkureu village of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, which is now Kyrgyzstan.
The Russian Civil War ended not so long ago. Young Komsomol member and a former Red Army soldier, Dyuyshen, travels to a remote village where he takes up his post as the new teacher for the children of the village. His enthusiasm to bring new ideas immediately faces a centuries-old tradition of life in Central Asia. The former soldier tries to improve the children's literacy but faces opposition from their Muslim parents who, moreover, look unfavorably on the idea of a girl joining the school. Dyuyshen meets Altynai, a 15-year-old illiterate girl who has a burning desire to study, but her aunt sells her to a powerful and wealthy chieftain. The school is burned down. The film ends with the promise of it being rebuilt using a centuries-old tree which had been a source of pride to the villagers.