accurate representation of Turkmen life, Baba Annanov and Artyk Djallyev were superb in their lead roles, and Nury Halmammedov's score blending Turkmen folk motifs with European symphony was impressive as well. Widely considered to be his magisterial work, it has since gained a cult status. Karliev went on to produce two more biographical films — Magtymguly (1968, starring Khommat Mullyk and Mukhammed Cherkezov) about Magtymguly Pyragy and The Secrets of Maqam (1974) about Karkara — which were met with popular success but were dramatturgically inferior; his last work was The Border is Behind the River (1971). 1970s and 80s The 70s saw the rise of Khodzhakuli Narliev as a director. Narliev's signature style of film-making — low, barren, mono-toned and deceptively simplistic yet richly poetic, capturing the dignified eternal lives of Turkmen women in all its intricate tragic grinds yet compelling the audience to reflect and hope for better — won many critics, who often deemed of him as the Turkmen Fellini. He was to head the film union from 1976 (won unanimously) to 1998, significantly improving the now-renamed Alty Karliev Turkmenfilm Studio and commanded tremendous influence in the film industry. A student of Boris Volchek and already an acclaimed cameraman, his first directorial venture was Man Overboard (1969) about the moral conflict of a fisherman who failed to save his friend from the seas; Slapke found it to be a sincere and impressive debut. He garnered critical acclaim for his next film Nevestka (Daughter-in-Law) which is widely considered as the zenith of Turkmen cinema. Featuring Maya-Gozel Aimedova (who would feature in each of his film, and be his future-wife) in lead role as a widow who engages in an eternal wait for her (dead) soldier-husband and refuses to remarry in her bid to remain loyal to the idea of love whilst taking care of her father-in-law. His next film was When a Woman Saddles a Horse (1974, Aimedova wrote the script), a historical drama modeled on one of his relative, a pioneer female revolutionary and which portrayed the difficulties of an oriental woman in bringing structural changes within a society. You Must be Able to Say No (1976) was a pamphlet against the tradition of bride-purchase. Both the films were an antithesis to the atypical traditionalist themes found in his works in that he rejected blind allegiance to traditions; the former was dedicated to Ene Kuliyeva, the head of