NUR-SULTAN – The new Pixar cartoon “Luca” came out on June 17 and became the 37th film dubbed from English to Kazakh as part of the collaboration project between Disney and the Bolashak International Scholarship program, reported the press service of Bolashak.
Actor Bagzhan Nartaiuly who voiced the character of Luca in the new animated film. Photo credit: Bolashak Fund.
The collaboration between Disney and Bolashak titled Start With Yourself began in June 2011. It was the first initiative for direct dubbing of Disney’s films from English to Kazakh. “Cars 2” was the first picture to be translated. Previously, all Disney’s creations were only available in Russian for the Kazakh audience.
Kazakh became the second of Turkic languages, after Turkish, to become available for dubbing. Today, more than 100 Kazakh actors have become a part of the Walt Disney Pictures voice actors database.
Since 2011, the project successfully dubbed 36 films from such studios as Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Sony Pictures into the Kazakh language. The majority of the films are animated pictures created especially for children.
Dubbing from English into another language is an intricate process that requires adaptation based on the local culture to make sure the audience understands and enjoys the plot, especially when it comes to specific words and jokes.
The groundbreaking project for the Kazakh culture quickly acquired supporters and sponsors. The Kazakh companies including Meloman (now known as Marwin), BI Group and Kinopark have all contributed to the initiative.
“The Start With Yourself project advocates for the right of every Kazakh citizen to access high-quality foreign film content in their native language. In recent years, we have been actively working to ensure that the project becomes part of the national policy for the creation of high-quality multimedia content in the state language for children and adults,” said Chairwoman of Bolashak’s Board of Trustees Dinara Chaizhunussova.
While the practice of dubbing into Kazakh is not yet ubiquitous for all foreign films shown in the country, the current project has already helped to include only Kazakh-speaking audiences in the film industry and contribute to the popularization of the language by creating popular culture content in Kazakh and with the occasional participation of well known public figures.
More than 32 child actors auditioned for the titular role of Luca for Kazakh dubbing of the latest Pixar film. The story about a boy visiting a small Italian seaside village for summer vacation and embarking on extraordinary adventures is expected to become another hit of Pixar and captivate young audiences.
