The First Teacher (Russian: Первый учитель, romanized: Pervyy uchitel) is a 1965 drama film directed by Andrei Konchalovsky.

[2] The action takes place in the years from 1924 all the way to the early 1950s in the Kurkureu village of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, which is now Kyrgyzstan.

His enthusiasm to bring new ideas immediately faces a centuries-old tradition of life in Central Asia.

The former soldier tries to improve the children's literacy but faces opposition from their Muslim parents who, moreover, look unfavorably on the idea of a girl joining the school.

Dyuyshen meets Altynai, a 15-year-old illiterate girl who has a burning desire to study, but her aunt sells her to a powerful and wealthy chieftain.