Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan was very well received, both critically and commercially. Cohen later won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. But the Kazakh government banned the film and threatened to sue Cohen for his negative (and entirely fictitious) depiction of that country. Fourteen years later the Borat sequel was released, but this time the Kazakh government decided to embrace the film’s commercial success and use its global influence to advertise the country’s tourism. Kazakhstan, once again, became a focal point of internet memes.

"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-US’>Shyrakhy: by Yermek Tursunov and The Secret of a Leader by Farkhat Sharipov, were featured at the Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles. The Secret of a Leader went on to win Best Film at the Moscow International Film Festival"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;mso-bidi-font-style:italic’> the Grand Prix at the 41st Moscow International Film Festival and the 15th Eurasia International Film Festival.