Turksib (film)

Turksib (Russian: Турксиб) is a 1929 Soviet documentary film directed by Viktor Alexandrovitsh Turin documenting the building of the Turkestan–Siberia Railway.

"Turksib" was particularly appreciated by the classic British and Canadian documentary filmmaker John Grierson, who prepared the English version of the picture.

The filmmakers successfully capture both the enthusiasm of the builders and the amazement of the desert inhabitants as they witness a train traveling along tracks laid in the sand.

The third act depicts the work of topographers, the "vanguard of civilization," as they survey the land, are welcomed by the local nomads, and the development of the future railway route in Alma-Ata.

The fourth act shows the actual process of laying the tracks through the sands and rocks, the completed road, and local nomads from nearby tribes racing alongside the train.

Turksib (1929) by Viktor Alexandrovich Turin