The Image of the Sakha People in Contemporary Yakut Cinema

Abstract

In the contemporary Yakut society, the film industry has a significant influence on the formation of the perception of the Sakha people, their traditions, customs, life and the beauty of nature in a harsh climate. Thanks to this, the Yakut film industry has managed to advance to the masses, attracting the attention of viewers from all over the world, which became the basis for the formation of the phenomenon of Yakut cinema. The scholarly significance of this study is manifested due to its high relevance in the field of preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage through mass media, in particular, cinematography. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the image of the Sakha people in contemporary cinema. Tasks include analyzing the Sakha people in cinema, as well as expanding the understanding of the cultural diversity of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The paper presents the results of a sociological online survey in Google Forms format (N=161), which was conducted in October 2023 in order to study the interests of the residents of Yakutia in the sphere of modern Yakut cinema. The paper analyzes the prospects of development of the Yakut film industry, its main problems, as well as a detailed analysis of the most and least popular films over the past 10 years. Based on this, we conclude that this study contributes to the expansion of understanding of the interaction between culture and the film industry