The film about the history of the Alaska–Siberia Air Route, based on the materials of the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society, was presented on April 25 at the Russian Drama Theater in the city of Shymkent. After the screening, the members of the film crew talked with the audience for an hour and a half, answering questions.
“This is the clearest example of friendship and cooperation between the peoples of the two powers – the USSR and the United States – who became allies at a difficult historical moment and united in the fight against Nazism, and we have not forgotten about it,” said the director of the film, a well-known documentary filmmaker, a member of the RGS, a member of the expedition "ALSIB" Alexey Nikulin. “Respect for the past requires that we remember our common history, regardless of the current geopolitical situation.”
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The film tells about the history of the Alaska–Siberia Air Route. Soviet pilots, sometimes at the cost of their lives, ferried American planes to be sent to the front along this route during the Second World War. Recent expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society have made it possible to find and film unique material about the ALSIB.
“It was a fantastic infrastructure that served its purpose to the fullest, is still operational, and is a foundation for further development,” said Pavel Filin, head scientist of the RGS’s expedition.
The film was warmly received by the public. People shared their impressions. One of the young viewers admitted that he had not read in any history textbook about what he saw in this film. Another young man, who is serving in the National Guard of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said that his grandfather had been awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union during the war, and the stories of ALSIB’s pilots made descendants proud to this day.
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A peculiar thread connecting Russia and Kazakhstan was the fate of one of the heroes of the ALSIB: a radio operator, Sergeant Pyotr Okonechnikov, a native of the East Kazakhstan region. During one of the stages of the expedition, search specialists allegedly found his remains, personal belongings, and a Komsomol membership card.
By the way, the film received an unexpected creative response on the Kazakh soil. A musical duo from Almaty consisting of singer Marie Anouar and musician Eduard Dvuhimenny wrote a song about the ALSIB. It was first performed in public on the day of the film's screening.
The song turned out to be so soulful and musically interesting that Alexey Nikulin and his SKYFIRST team decided to release a music video for it. The video sequence will be exclusive material from the RGS’s expeditions and newsreels of the Great Patriotic War. And the premiere will be timed to coincide with Victory Day which is officially celebrated in Kazakhstan as well as in Russia.
The ALSIB is an air route with a length of 15,000 km between Siberia and Alaska. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet pilots ferried fighters and bombers from the United States to the USSR in the most difficult conditions of the Far North. There were 39 crashed, 49 accidents, and 60 emergency landings on the Soviet section of the air route. 114 pilots were killed. 8,094 aircraft sent to the front played an important role in the fight against Nazism.