For women, the path to directing required not only talent but also exceptional persistence and resilience, especially in years when filmmaking was considered a male profession.

Among them, Kamara Kamalova holds a special place as the first female film director in Central Asia. She entered history not only as a pioneer but also as an artist who managed to portray female experience with a sensitivity and openness that was unusual for her time.

In the history of Uzbek cinema, women were not only actresses. They worked in documentary, animation, and feature filmmaking, and often became innovators. One of these figures is Kamara Kamalova, the first female director in Central Asia.I

In the early 1960s, Kamalova enrolled at VGIK, one of the most prestigious film schools in the Soviet Union. For a woman at that time, this was an almost impossible path. Yet even a diploma did not guarantee immediate access to major cinema.

After graduating, Kamalova created animated films and worked in television. Feature filmmaking was a rare opportunity at the time, as there was a strict limit on the number of films produced annually in Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, Uzbek cinema was already shaped by major figures such as Shukhrat Abbasov, Ali Khamraev, and Latif Fayziev.

Within this system, a young director, especially a woman, had to wait for her moment. That moment came in 1975, when Kamara Kamalova directed her first feature film, Bitter Berry.

Bitter Berry is a classic example of Thaw-era cinema, exploring one of its central themes: coming of age and bidding farewell to childhood. The film’s protagonist is thirteen-year-old dreamer Nargiz, who spends her summer holidays with her grandmother in the mountains. There, she experiences her first love and, later, her first love disappointment.

The film perfectly captures the atmosphere of the Thaw period. It is a story about childhood and adolescence, where the personal experiences of its “small” characters take centre stage, proving to be just as significant as the emotions of adults.

Kamalova, however, does something else that is equally important. While many directors of the time focused on adult female characters, she brings to the screen a girl, a teenager, and centres the inner world of a young heroine. It is a perspective on female experience from within, shaped by emotions, doubts, and the process of growing up. This is why Kamalova’s film is often referenced today in discussions of the female gaze in cinema.

In the 1970s, film theorists began to examine how the cinematic gaze itself is constructed. Scholar Laura Mulvey introduced the concept of the “male gaze,” the idea that cinema often presents the world through a male perspective. Later, filmmakers and researchers began to speak of a “female gaze” as well, suggesting that when women tell stories, they bring their own experiences, sensitivity, and vision to the screen.

For this reason, Kamara Kamalova’s work is important not only for the history of Uzbek cinema. It demonstrates how female experience, cultural context, and the director’s personal vision can reshape the way cinema tells stories.