Meet Margulan Zhunisbek | Director, Screenwriter, Cinematographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Margulan Zhunisbek and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Margulan, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
Since every other person in Los Angeles is involved in filmmaking in one way or another, the competition here is at its highest level. When I go on set, I try to give my best and show myself in the work.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a Director, Screenwriter, Cinematographer.
Currently, I’m studying in Los Angeles pursuing my MFA degree in Filmmaking at New York Film Academy.

I was born in Astana, Kazakhstan, I’ve been making films since 2016 when I was still in high school. I learned the basics of film production from screenwriting to cinematography by myself. I made my first films together with my classmates, who were my actors. Although the quality left much to be desired, the foundation was laid. In April 2017, I participated in the international competition Infomatrix in the Short Film category, where I won a gold medal, which gave me confidence in my abilities as a filmmaker. At that moment I realized that I wanted to continue making films.

By the end of high school, I decided to make a special video for our graduation. I had an idea to recreate a scene from La La Land within the walls of the school. Having gathered like-minded people, we came up with the lyrics, after which I recorded the vocals. Having gathered 30+ graduating students and rehearsed all the dance sequences, I filmed it in a one continous shot with only one cut, just like in the original scene. Although at the moment this video looks amateurish, at that time for me it was a big challenge, the result of which I am still proud of.

Also in 2017, I entered the Kazakh National University of Arts to major in film directing. In my first year, my film “Who Am I?” won the “Best Director” nomination at the “Ushkyn” (Sparkle, 2018) student film festival. It was a long 5-year training where I honed my skills as a director. Our group created practice for ourselves, participating in each other’s film sets, and at some point I realized that I needed more practice with a clear structure of how a film set should operate by Hollywood standards. Subsequently, I was thinking about radically changing my field of activity, because I was no longer seeing clear prospects in this direction.

In some ways, these urges to change my major were beneficial to me, as I began to explore other fields of activity, such as IT, game development, and management. Although it was mostly superficial, I began to draw knowledge from more than one source and began to look at things from different angles. Applying for other programs led me to the Czech Republic, where I studied Czech for free for a month in 2019. Although I intended to win a year-long course that would allow me to study for free at local universities, this month threw me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to explore other countries and cultures.

Around this time, I got into my university’s mobile exchange program, thanks to which I was able to study Filmmaking at the Portuguese university – Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias (Lisbon). I was able to have hands on practice at a school with good technical equipment for production and post-production. In addition, I managed to find myself in a season when the university hosted international film festival (Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival 2019) and workshops (XXII Semana Internacional do Audiovisual e Multimédia 2019; CINE Video Expo Lisbon 2019) in various media sectors – film production, video game development, music. This journey gave me a new practical perspective on how to approach art, not to mention the opportunity to travel around Europe.

I completed with my undergraduate degree in 2022 and immediately applied to the MFA program at the New York Film Academy. While I was waiting for results, I managed to work in the field of management, seemingly unrelated to cinema, but there I gained experience and developed business communication skills. After only a month of working there, I was sent on business trips to neighboring cities to conduct events for government officials and national companies. By the end of 2022, I received the news that I had been accepted into NYFA through the Bolashak state scholarship program, which I had applied for.

In April 2023, I flew to Los Angeles and began my studies in Filmmaking, where we had practice in all film production positions and for me it became a second wind. Having caught the momentum, I began to absorb all the knowledge I could and started going to film sets with a clear production standard. I began to enjoy going on film sets not only as a director, but also as a cinematographer, first assistant director, producer, first assistant camera, key grip, gaffer.

After a one and half year here, I managed to participate in numerous projects and wrote, produced and directed my film “Permission to Live,” which will soon be in its film festival run. It’s the story about second chances, when sometimes you need to take a step back in order to become a better person.

After 8 years of experience in filmmaking, I am more ready than ever to continue progressing in the industry, both in the US and Kazakhstan. Right now I’m in the pre-production for my Thesis project of my MFA program.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Los Angeles has become my second home and I love this city. I would definitely show my friend the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood sign and the Santa Monica Pier. We would also definitely go to Six Flags for a day.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family is very supportive of me in my journey. Determination is one of the most important skills they taught me. “There are no unsolvable problems” is a phrase that is always on the lips of my parents along with “Dream boldly, and wisely turn your dream into a goal.”. In the most difficult moments of my life, I often repeat these words to myself.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themargulis/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themargulis/

Image Credits
Uma Poonguzhali Surya Nikhil